Josiah Mason, a biography

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JOSIAH MASON:

A BIOGRAPHY.

BY

JOHN THACKRAY BUNCE.

Printed for Private Circulation.

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1882

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(Entered at Stationers' Hall.)

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BIRMINGHAM :
THE "JOURNAL" PRINTING WORKS.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE.

This Memoir was written at the request of
Sir Josiah Mason's Executors — Mr. G. J. Johnson,
his intimate friend and legal adviser, and Mr.
Martyn Josiah Smith, his grand-nephew — who
desired that an authentic record should be pre-
pared of one who unselfishly devoted to works of
charity and education the wealth acquired in the
course of a long and laborious life. The materials
for the Memoir had been in a large degree, obtained
from Sir Josiah Mason himself, consisting partly
of his own memoranda, and partly of notes made
by the Author of conversations held with him.
The volume, designed for private circulation, by
gift of the Executors, is issued on the 87th
anniversary of Sir Josiah Mason's birth.

J. THACKRAY BUNCE.

Birmingham,

2Srd February, 1882.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE L

PAGE

Birth and Early Life .... 1

1795 to 1822.— Ancestry— Parentage— Birth (1795) —
Early Occupations — Cake Selling — Baking — Shoe
Making — Carpet Weaving — Removal to Bir-
mingham — Marriage — Learns a New Trade — A
Bitter Disappointment.

CHAPTEE II.

Starting in Business . . . .19

1822 to 1825.— Engagement with Mr. Harrison— The
Split Ring Trade — Dr. Priestley and Mr. Harrison
— Early Steel Pens — Prosperous Progress in Busi-
ness — Belief in Providential Guidance.

CHAPTEE IH.

The Steel Pen Trade .... 30

1828 to 1842.— Early History of the Trade— Dr. Priestley's
Pens — Perry's Pens — Mitchell and Gillott —
Mason's First Pens — Introduction to Perry — The
Slitting Press — Drane's Machines* — Meeting with
Mr. Gillott — Mason and Sommerville — Gas Muffles
— Development of the Pen Trade.

71.

CHAPTER IV. page

Electro Plating : Elkington and Mason 43
1842 to 1865.— Sketch of Electro-Metallurgy— Elkington's
Patents — Wright's Discoveries — Mason joins
Elkington — Difficulties of Working Patents —
Manufacturing resol7ed upon — Rapid De7elopment
of the Business — The Exhibition of 1851 — Narra-
ti7e of Dr. Siemens — Herr Krupp's Rolling
Machinery — Copper Smelting at Pembrey — The
Pembrey Schools — India-rubber Ring Making.

CHAPTER V.
The Mason Orphanage and Almshouses . 62
1858 to 1869.— Early Love of Children— First Idea of
the Orphanage — Indiscriminate Charity — Proposal
for a Public Orphanage — Interview with Dr. Miller
— A Munificent Offer — Religious Difficulties : The
Catechism — Project Abandoned — The Orphanage
Mason's own Work — The Progress of the Scheme
— The Almshouses for Women — The Orphanage
and Almshouses Trusts — The Orphanage Endow-
ments — Description of the Building — Sketch of
the Founder in the Orphanage.

CHAPTER VI.
The Mason Science College. . . 95

1870 to 1881.— Origin of the College— Preparing the
Trust Deed — Appointment of Trustees — Arranging
the Plans— ^Laying the Foundation Stone (February
23, 1875) — Autobiographical Notes — Site of the
College — Description of the Building — The
Architect — The Deed of Foundation — Opening of
the College (Oct. 1, 1881)— Dr. Huxley's Address
— Mr. Johnson's Statement — Formal Transfer of
the Building.

TO.

CHAPTER VII.

PAGE

Biographical Ngtes, Illness, and Death 137
Opening of the Orphanage — Public Recognition of the
Founder — Honour of Knighthood — A Serious
Illness — Consultations with French Physicians —
The Malvern Water Cure — Journey to France and
Italy — Mason's Various Residences — His House at
Erdington — Home Occupations — Declining Health
— Last Illness — Death (June 16, 1881) — Funeral
in the Orphanage Grounds — Commemorative Texts.

CHAPTER VIII.

Personal Characteristics . . .151

Sketch of Mason's Appearance — Two Portraits — "The
Business Mouth" — His Enterprise in Business —
Remarkable Physical and Mental Energy — Organis-
ing Faculty — Care of his Workpeople — Habitual
Caution — Retiring Disposition — Cheerfulness of
Character — Religious Views — Belief in Providential
Interpositions — Largeness of his Aims.

Trustees of the Orphanage . . .169
Trustees of the Science College. . 171

CHAPTER I.

Birth and Early Life.

Josiah Mason was, in all respects, a self-made
man. He had no advantages of birth, or con-
nexions, or education, or means. So far as regarded
the probability of wealth or of personal eminence,
no life could have begun in a manner less
promising. He started, indeed, not so much upon
the lowest round of the ladder, as at the very
foot of it, with little chance, as it seemed, of
getting so high as the first round. He was not
even a mechanic by any formal training, for he
was taught no trade, served no apprenticeship,
was inducted into no " art " or " mystery " of
handicraft. How this happened is not very clear ;
but his own recollection was distinct that it was so,
and that he stood a good chance of going through
life as a labourer in the ordinary sense, or of
earning a precarious livelihood by turning his
hand to those odd jobs which fall to the lot
of one who, according to the common saying, is
jack of all trades and master of none. From this
shiftless kind of life Josiah Mason was preserved
by his natural resolution, ingenuity, and industry,

1

2 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

and by an innate conviction that, somehow or other,
he must do something in the world, both for him-
self and for others.

It has been already said that Jo3iah Mason's
known ancestry does not go back very far. His
grandfather, on the father's side — also named
Josiah — was a working bombazine weaver at Kid-
derminster, a good mechanic, an inventor in a
small way, a musical amateur of considerable power,
and a man who could, on occasion, turn his hand
to anything in the way of dealing with machinery
of a simple character. In his day such help was
not readily available in country places, and old
Josiah was consequently in request as a mender
of looms, and a sort of doctoring engineer of the
water mills then much in use in that part of the
country. The old man seems to have been some-
thing of a humourist, of social habits — a good
smoker, his grandson remembered — and very proud
and fond of the lad who, all unknown to him,
was in after years to make his name famous.

The grandfather had an only son, also named
Josiah, who, on growing to man's estate, married
Elizabeth Grittiths, the daughter of a respectable
workman at Dudley. This Josiah Mason was
taught hi* fat hern trade of bombazine weaving,
which he afterwards exchanged for carpet weaving,
mid ultimately for the position of clerk to Mr. John
Broom, a carpet manufacturer at Kidderminster,

BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 3

by whom he was much trusted, and whose con-
fidence he appears to have well deserved.

Our Josiah Mason was the second son of
the couple just mentioned — who had three other
children, two boys and a girl. One of the
sons died young ; and the other son and the
daughter have now been dead for some years.
Josiah was born on the 23rd of February, in the
year 1795, at a little house in Mill Street, Kidder-
minster, a circumstance identified with the place,
the upper part of Mill Street being now called
Josiah Mason Street, to commemorate a benefaction
given by Sir Josiah to the dispensary of the town.
Indeed, though separated from Kidderminster at a
comparatively early age, and never having since
had any direct communication with it, Sir Josiah
Mason always cherished a keen memory of his birth-
place, and a strong regard for it ; this feeling is
distinctly marked in the foundation deeds of his
Orphanage and his Scientific College, by which
preference in both institutions is directed to be
given to children belonging to Kidderminster, his
earliest home, as to Birmingham, the home of his
maturer years and of his old age. In the College
deed he caused formally to be set forth his birth
and early occupation at Kidderminster, and his
desire to connect the name of the town, and the
interests of its inhabitants, with both the College
and the Orphanage.

4 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

Thanks to his munificence and to his wise
educational provisions, the young people trained in
these institutions will enjoy advantages denied to
the Founder of both. His parents were unable
to give him anything beyond the merest elements of
school teaching. Such instruction as he had was
obtained at a dame's school, held in a cottage next
door to his father's house. It is not unlikely that,
from his temperament, and his bias towards a busy
life, the boy scarcely cared for confinement at
school, even had the circumstances of the family
allowed them to keep him there. It is certain that
as early as eight years old he began to work, and,
characteristically enough, on his own account. It
was a very humble line of business — that of selling
cakes in the streets. When speaking of his early
life, as he frequently did, Sir Josiah Mason used to
recount with much humour, but not without a touch
of honest pride, his entrance upon " trade" : how
he held the position of a kind of middleman in the
business, going to the baker's, and buying his cakes
at sixteen to tho dozen, putting them into a couple
of baskets, neatly fitted up by his mother — a clean,
thrifty, kind of woman, as ho described her — and
going his rounds among his regular customers, with
whom tho little follow became so great a favourite
that thoy waited for " Joe's oakos " and rolls, and
Bometimos gave him a penny extra, quite as much
out of kinduoss for tho vendor an of liking for his

EARLY OCCUPATIONS. 5

wares. When the cakes and rolls were disposed of,
the lad occupied himself in a curious branch of
industry. Copper money was plentiful in those
parts amongst the workpeople, and silver was scarce,
so that the tradesmen were a good deal troubled
with their accumulations of copper. Young
Josiah, always ready to turn his hand to anything,
saw that he could make a trifle out of this per-
plexity, and so he sought and obtained work in
sorting the coppers, arranging them, and wrapping
them up in five-shilling packets — a service for
which he was remunerated by the fee of a penny to
the pound. His next venture was of a more
ambitious character. The cake-baskets were turned
into panniers, and were slung over the back of a
donkey — loftily named after Admiral Eodney — and
Josiah Mason converted himself into a dealer in
fruit and vegetables, which he carried about from
door to door. In these enterprises — simple and
homely as thus recorded, but important enough to
him at the time — the lad was encouraged by his
mother, who contrived to help him out of her own
scanty means, and to see that he had what
he gained by his industry. His father, ac-
quiescing in this arrangement, seems only to
have contributed a piece of advice — valuable, no
doubt, in its way, and upon which the son
prided himself upon having acted in later life :
" Joe (said the father) thee'st got a few pence ;

6 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

never let anybody know how much thee'st got
in thee pockets."

So the boy s life went on until Josiah was
about fifteen years old. By this time he grew tired
of the trade of the streets, and began to wish for
more settled employment. One reason which in-
clined him to this desire was a feeling of kindly
sympathy for his elder brother, who had become a
confirmed invalid, and was confined to his room.
It was necessary for the comfort of the sick boy
that some one should sit with him in the chamber.
The father was, of course, away at his employment ;
the mother had her house-work to do ; the other
children were too young. So Josiah determined to
make himself nurse and company-keeper ; and this
resolution obliged him to find some business which
could be carried on at home. He chose shoe-
making ; and contrived to teach himself the trade,
by diligently watching an old shoemaker who lived
near his father's house in Mill Street. The choice
of occupation was due to accident. One evening,
in the twilight, he saw the old shoemaker trying to
make a " wax-end "— holding up the thread and the
wax against the imperfect light, and finding that
age had so dimmed his vision and dulled his sense of
touch that he could not manage to put them deftly
together, Josiah stepped up to him, and offered to
try. The trial was a success : the old shoemaker
declaring that he had never had a better or neater

LEARNS SHOEMAKING. 7

wax-end to work with — and so Josiah watched and
studied the other processes of shoemaking, until he
had mastered them for himself. He began work,
he told the writer, as a mere cobbler, by mending
shoes ; then he bought some leather, and ventured
upon making a pair of soles ; this led to shoemaking
proper; and at last, with pardonable pride, the
young artisan carried a pair of shoes of his own
making to Mr. Clymer, then the principal boot-
maker in Kidderminster, and asked for employment.
The business, however, did not answer very welL
Josiah was too strict a stickler for quality : he
bought the best leather, and put into it the best
work, but the price was too low, and in later years
he used humorously to say, " I found I couldn't
make it pay, and must become bankrupt, and so I
gave it up."

During this time Josiah Mason was not un-
mindful of other matters besides money-getting.
Conscious of the defects of his education, he
managed to teach himself writing, and, acting on
his principle of turning everything to useful
account, he obtained casual employment as a letter
writer for poor people who had not mastered the
art for themselves. At this occupation, including
the writing of valentines— some " coloured " and
some " plain " — he picked up money enough to buy
a few books, and the newly developed taste for
reading led him to borrow others. All of them

8 LIFE OF JOSJAH MASON.

were of a solid character — works on theology,
history, and science. Novels, poetry, and other
" light literature " were excluded from the course ;
indeed, it may be doubted if he ever read any work
of fiction in his life. In these studies the youth
was considerably helped by lessons received at the
Unitarian Sunday School — the well-known Kidder-
minster Old Meeting, formerly Kichard Baxter's
chapel — and by later attendance at the Wesleyan
Sunday School, where, on alternate Sundays, he
went for the purpose of making pens for the use of
learners of writing, which was then commonly
taught in Wesleyan Sunday Schools. The increase
of knowledge brought by his reading naturally led
Josiah Mason to become still more impatient of his
irregular employments, and induced him still more
strongly to desire definite occupation. For a time,
however, he found it hard to settle to any trade.
Shopkeeping was the first that succeeded to shoe-
making. His mother opened a little shop, about
1812, for the sale of groceries. It was a somewhat
peculiar branch of business, for the chief customers
were tramps and beggars, who then drove a roaring
trade, and made Kidderminster a principal place of
call on their journeys. They were very choice,
these gentry, in their requirements. They used a
then well-known lodging house in Mill Street, and
after emptying their wallets in the evening, and
selling the contents, they would go to Mrs. Mason's

CARPET WEAVING. 9

shop, and buy little packets of gunpowder tea,
which then sold at a guinea a pound, and of loaf
sugar, which cost nearly six shillings a pound:
these luxuries being kept ready for them in ounces
and half-ounces ; and Josiah Mason being an active
agent in dispensing them to the strange customers.
To the shop was ultimately added a bakehouse,
much used for the cooking of Sunday dinners, which
Josiah superintended. The shop, however, was not
a trade, and Josiah consequently turned his atten-
tion to several kinds of handicraft. He tried
carpenter's work, then blacksmith's, then house
painting, and made some progress in all, but was
satisfied with none, and was too restless to make
himself master of any of them. Then, at his
fathers instigation, he fell back upon the staple
trade of the town — carpet weaving — which he began
in 1814, when he was nineteen years old, at Mr.
Broom's works, at Tinker's Hill. Here he stayed
for about two years, and thoroughly mastered the
business, turning out work of a quality so good
that it was often shown by his employer to older
workpeople as an example. Praise of this kind was
very grateful to the young artizan, but it did not
yield the solid profit he desired. The carpet
weaving offered no satisfactory prospect for the
future of his life. Wages were low, Kidderminster
trade was not improving, the processes were
cumbrous and tedious, the pecuniary results were

10 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

comparatively trifling. Mason came at last to the
conclusion that a pound a week — all that could be
realised after payment of loom rent, and providing
the necessary assistance of boys at the looms then
used — was not enough for him. So he began to
think of a wider field, and more remunerative
and promising employment.

Birmingham — then a town of about 100,000
inhabitants— was at that time, as now, the
capital of the Midlands, and the natural centre
of attraction to people who desired to better their
condition. For a considerable time Sir Josiah
Mason had been under what he described as a
strong, indeed an overwhelming impression that
" he must go to Birmingham." He had an uncle
there, Eichard Griffiths, his mother's brother;
and when he was about twenty-one he resolved
to pay a Christmas visit to his relatives, to see
Birmingham for the first time. His intention
was to return to Kidderminster, at least for a
short period, and to go on with the carpet weaving
until some better opening presented itself. But
this design was destined not to be fulfilled. The
visit to Birmingham was the turning point of
the young man's life and fortunes : he never
went back to live at Kidderminster, but, happily
for himself and for Birmingham, remained all the
rest of his life a resident of the "Hardware
Village "-the familiar name of Birmingham in

REMOVES TO BIRMINGHAM. 11

the paat genoratio,, It „ the habit of Sir
Josiah Mason reverently to trace in the events
of his life the direct action of an over-ruling
Providence, and in his later years he was accus-
tomed to cite his early removal to Birmingham
as one of the most signal proofs which to his mind
justified this impression. Had he remained at
Kidderminster, he might never have risen above
the rank, or possessed more than the means, of
a journeyman carpet weaver; or at most, those
of a little master — for without capital to provide
machinery there was no chance there of entering
into business on a large scale ; while the staple
trade of the place offered no prospect to a work-
man of beginning on a small scale, and of gradually
pushing on to larger enterprises. In this respect
Birmingham presented a great advantage. The
variety of its trades afforded a wide field of choice
to an industrious man with some skill in mechanics.
It was easy for such an one, beginning as
a journeyman, to commence business on his own
account, with no more capital than would suffice
to provide his tools. The factors and merchants
were prepared to buy goods offered to them by
little garret masters — workmen who employed a
few boys, with perhaps a man or two — and the
larger manufacturers had usually in association
with them some of these out- workers, as they were
called. A sober, steady man, beginning in this

12 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

way, had every chance of extending his business,
and of gradually passing into the ranks of the
regular manufacturers. This was, indeed, the
origin of several if not most of the leading
Birmingham firms. Many anecdotes are told, by
persons now living, of the growth of gkat
businesses from such humble beginnings — masters
working alongside their men, living at their work-
places, gradually taking in another shop or so
as trade increased, putting down (and not un-
frequently inventing) a new piece of machinery
as it was wanted, and thus by degrees creating
establishments which, often in the time of their
founders, and more frequently in the next genera-
tion, grew to colossal proportions and acquired
world-wide reputation. This was the kind of
community which, as a young man of twenty-one,
Josiah Mason entered — a town fast rising in popu-
lation, wealth, and influence ; an industry varied
beyond computation, and embracing every kind
of metal work, from the great engines made at
Soho, to the steel trinkets forged and filed and
polished in some garret in a bye-street ; an army
of workers energetic, ingenious, and inventive
in the highest degree, capable of independent
exertion, and at the same time susceptible of adapt-
ing themselves to the higher organisation of large
factories. It was precisely the place to suit Mason,
who, as we have seen, was possessed of courage,

HIS MARRIAGE. 13

industry, and activity, and who was qualified to
develop an organising faculty which had, later in
life, an important influence upon his own fortunes,
and upon the trade of the town.

Mason's visit to his uncle decided his life
in two most important aspects — business and
marriage. As regards the latter, he made the
acquaintance of his cousin, Anne Griffiths, and
married her at Aston Parish Church, on the
18th of August, 1817 — an union prolonged, in
unalloyed happiness and mutual confidence, for
fifty-two years, when, to the great grief of the
survivor, it was dissolved by the death of
Mrs. Mason, which occurred on the 24th of
February, 1870. For about twelve months after
settling in Birmingham Mason lived with his
uncle, and after his marriage he removed to a
little house in a court in Baggott Street, and later
to a house and small manufactory in Legge Street,
where Mason had charge of a business belonging
to his uncle. The following account of his
connection with this employment is derived from
his own statements, made to the writer of this
memoir. Mr. Griffiths, Mason's uncle, was a clerk
and manager at Messrs. Gibbins's glass-works in
Baggott Street, and had invested his savings in a
gilt toy business — then, as now, an important
Birmingham trade, and which included the
production of common jewellery, gilt rings, buckles,

14 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

chains, fancy buttons, clasps, and personal
ornaments of all kinds. As his occupation at the
glass-works prevented him from doing more than
attending to the books and accounts in his leisure
time, Griffiths took a partner to conduct the
working department of the trade. Difficulties and
disagreements arose between the partners, and it
became advisable to have a thorough examination
of the business and the stock. To help him in
this enquiry, Griffiths requested the services of his
nephew Mason. In the course of the investigation
the partner suddenly left Birmingham, throwing the
concern upon Griffiths's hands. It was essential to
find somebody who could take charge of it, and
who could be trusted in doing so ; and this led to
Josiah Mason consenting to remain for a time in
Birmingham to look after his uncle's interests, for,
with his characteristic intelligence and activity,
he had, in the course of stock-taking, acquired a
sufficient knowledge of the business to be able to
manage it. At this time he had not given up the
idea of returning to Kidderminster ; nor had
Mr. Broom, his former employer, who repeatedly
invited him to come back, and kept his loom
vacant for nearly two years in the hope that he
might comply. But it was not to be. Mason's
prospects in Birmingham brightened sufficiently to
induce him to decide upon remaining in his new
home ; amongst the inducements offered to him

A DISAPPOINTMENT. 15

being a promise voluntarily made by his uncle that
if he stayed and worked up the trade to its full
capacity, he should have a share of it for himself.
For between six and seven years Mason devoted
himself to this undertaking, with all the zeal and
industry of his energetic nature — striving early
and late, opening up new sources of business,
looking closely to the cost of manufacture, and
specially insisting upon the prompt, punctual, and
honest execution of orders. The result was that
he recovered all the money his uncle had invested,
but had nearly lost, paid off all the debts of the
concern, increased its value as a business, enlarged
its profits, and finally had the satisfaction of seeing
a good sum of money standing to its credit. This
was no slight thing to be accomplished by a young
man who had received no training in a manu-
facturing business, whose experience up to manhood
had been limited to the life of a small town, and
whose early occupations were scarcely calculated
to develop habits of industry and order. Naturally,
and justly, t Mason looked for the reward which
had been promised to him. He was destined to
a cruel disappointment — a blow so severe that
even after the lapse of sixty years the effects of
it were still traceable, whenever the subject recurred
to his mind, for although with the lapse of years
the bitterness of the deception had disappeared,
he invariably spoke of the incident as if the pain

16 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

it once caused him were still keen and fresh in
his memory. At the time, the intended breach
of an honourable engagement came upon the young
man as a surprise. An intimate friend of his
uncle's had told him that the promise of a part-
nership was not intended to be kept — some
adverse influences, which, after so many years
have passed it is not needful to recall, having
been brought to bear upon his uncle's mind.
Conscious of his own honesty, and unwilling to
suspect the good faith of others, Mason refused
to believe the story. It was repeated, with
proofs too clear to be disregarded. In his plain
straightforward way, the young man went direct
to his uncle, and asked him if the report were
true-if the promised reward for his industry,
faithfulness, and skill were to be denied him, at
the moment when its fulfilment was due? He
learnt that the story which he had heard was
indeed too true ; that, in fact, negotiations were
then pending for the sale of the business to
another person. Mason felt, with inexpressible
keenness, the cruelty of the sudden unlooked-for
blow to his hopes, and he felt the deception still
more acutely. He was, however, too proud to
complain, and too full of self-reliance to despair.
His resolution was instantly taken. "I will
never (he said) re-enter the place. I have done
with it at once and for ever." The Griffiths

AN INDEPENDENT SPIRIT. 17

family tried to shake his resolution ; the purchaser
of the business, a Mr. Bakewell, then a rule-
maker in St. Mary's Square, tempted him with
offers of large ,pay — £300 a year — to remain as
manager. But those who thought he would give
way were mistaken in their man. Mason's life-
long characteristic was to adhere with unswerv-
ing firmness to a resolution once taken, and to
follow a course once decided upon. So, without
knowing where to look for work, or, indeed, what
work to do, he severed his connection with a
business which he had made his own, stimulated
by the promise that it should be his own in
course of time. The purchaser, Mr. Bakewell, was
put in possession of the place, Mason's accounts
were rendered with exactness, and then he left the
concern — to seek employment where he might. It
is worth mentioning that after the severance above
described, the business did not prosper ; Mr. Bake-
well fell into difficulties, and committed suicide;
and many years afterwards his widow was one of
the first inmates admitted by Mason into the
almshouses which he had built and endowed at
Erdington. To complete this part of Ms life, it
may be stated that while engaged in his uncle's
business, Mason showed evidences of the desire
which he so nobly realised by his foundations — that
of promoting the education of children. He
attended the Wesleyan Chapel in Belmont Row,

18 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Birmingliam (of which his uncle Griffiths was one
of the chief members), and taught in the Sunday
School attached to it. He also taught in the
Wesleyan Sunday School at Erdington, the place
at which, in later years, he established his
own residence, his almshouses for women,
and his princely orphanage. When, as an
old man, talking with his friends of the in-
cidents of his career, he frequently dwelt with
pleasure upon this coincidence of his earlier and
his later years, and he used to mention, as an
instance of kindly religious sympathy, that Mr.
Joseph Webster, of Penns, an Unitarian, provided
the desks and fittings for the Wesleyan Sunday
school at Erdington.

CHAPTER II.

Starting in Business.

Bitter as was the disappointment above
described, it was no doubt the best thing that
could have happened to Josiah Mason — however
black it might look at the moment — for it
introduced him to the business which laid the
foundation of his fortunes. The writer of this
memoir has often heard him tell the story of
how this came about. It was in 1822 — when he
was twenty-seven years old — that he left the gilt
toy business in Legge Street, and was thrown
upon his own resources, with little money in
hand and no work in prospect. He was
walking in the street, thinking, not over cheer-
fully, on what could be done, when a gentleman
— a stranger — stepped up to him, and said, " Mr.
Mason?" "Yes," was the answer. "You are
now, I understand, without employment ? " "Yes,"
again. " Then I know some one who wants just
such a man as you, and I will introduce you to
him. Will you meet me to-morrow morning at
Mr. Harrison's, the split-ring maker, in Lancaster
Street?" "I will," said Mason; and so they
parted. This Good Samaritan proved to be Mr.
Heeley, a steel toy maker, and who probably
knew Mason through his connection with the

20 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Wesleyans, to which denomination the Heeleys,
an old and respected Birmingham family, belonged.
Next morning, as appointed, the two met at Mr.
Harrison's, and Mr. Heeley promptly opened the
business by saying, " Here, Mr. Harrison, I have
brought you the yery man you want." Mr.
Harrison was a plain, blunt, old-fashioned man,
with much of the humour which then characterised
his class in Birmingham. He did not close too
briskly with Mr. Heeley's offer of his new-found
protfg&. "I have had a good many young men
come here (he said), but they are afraid of dirty-
ing their fingers." At this, Mason, who had kept
silence, involuntarily opened his hands, looked at
them, and speaking to himself rather than to
the others, said quietly — '" Are you ashamed of
dirtying yourselves to get your own living ? " It
was an unstudied touch of nature : Mr. Harrison,
who had a keen insight into character, was
instantly struck by it. A few enquiries satisfied
him of Mason's capacity and of his willingness to
work. Before they parted, an agreement had been
come to, characteristic on both sides : "I have
built myself a cottage," said Mr. Harrison, " and
am going to it on such a day. I shall take my
furniture out of this house ; you can come and live
here, and bring your furniture in." The associa-
tion thus formed was never broken. As a young
man of twenty-seven Josiah Mason went to live

v

MR. HARRISON. 21

in Lancaster Street, in a house with the work-
shops behind it, and a pleasant garden behind them.
When at nearly eighty he retired from the busi-
ness, his manufactory occupied the same site, with
pretty nearly an acre of ground besides; and in
one part of the pen works Mr. Harrison's original
business as a split-ring maker was still carried
on.

A noteworthy feature of this connection be-
tween Mason and Mr. Harrison was that there
was no agreement as to the remuneration of the
former. Mason removed his household goods into
Harrison's premises, and took charge of the busi-
ness, and so for about a year affairs went on —
Mason taking from the receipts as much money
as was needed for himself and his wife to live
upon, and Mr. Harrison finding the amounts
required for trade purposes, and taking the profits.
No stronger proof could be given of the absence
of a merely mercenary taint in Mason's disposition :
Mr. Harrison had put confidence in him when he
needed a friend, and he was willing to serve
without any thought of self. Prudence, however,
dictated some kind of settlement of the relations
between the two. At the end of twelve months,
Mason spoke to his employer on the subject.
Mr. Harrison's reply was that, on fair payment
for it, he was willing to sell the business, and to
retire altogether; and he advised Mason to go

22 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

and see if anybody would lend him the money
to purchase it Such assistance had been promised
to him by more than one person, at a time when it
did not seem likely to be wanted ; but now that
it was required, the proffered help was refused —
the plea of the nominal friends to whom Mason
applied being that it would be folly to lend
money to a man to enter upon a business with
which he was unacquainted. Thus disappointed,
Mason came again to Mr. Harrison, and frankly
told him of his failure to obtain the money. Mr.
Harrison, who had contracted a strong friendship
for his assistant, now showed a noble generosity.
He had money* enough for his own simple
wants, he had no near relatives to provide for,
he did not care to continue the personal oversight
of business, and he did not feel justified in taking
the profits for himself while another did the
work. So he practically made a gift of the trade
to Mason. Nominally it was a sale. " Give me,"
said Mr. Harrison, " £500 for the stock and the
business, and pay mo that amount out of the
profits as you make them." The value of the
bargain may bo inferred from the facts that the
first £100 woh paid in August, 1823, and the
last £100 in May, 1824. To the close of his
life Sir JoHiuh Mutton kopt, as a precious relic of
his old friend and manter, the little octavo
memorandum book in whieh those payments were

MR HARRISON. 23

entered, together with other records of ordinary-
trading transactions. On the last leaf of the
book were Mr. Harrison's entries of receipts for
£500, the purchase money: the only accounts which
ever existed between the two.

Nothing could have been simpler than this
transaction; nothing more honourable to both
parties to it. The old manufacturer, who had made
what he desired — a modest competence — and who
wished to be free in his declining years to enjoy it,
recognised in the probity, industry, and intelligence
of the younger man the qualities requisite to the
successful conduct of a business in which, while
retiring from it, he still felt a strong interest ; and
which he desired to see conducted on the same
principles as those which had governed his own
conduct of it. The confidence thus displayed by
Mr. Harrison was justified by his associate so
entirely that a close and tender friendship, lasting
throughout the remainder of Mr. Harrison's life,
sprang up between the two. Though he had ceased
to have any direct concern in the business, Mr.
Harrison was a constant visitor at Lancaster Street,
where he assisted his successor with advice and
encouragement, and with that kindly sympathy
most valuable to a young man entering upon a new
enterprise. It was not only, however, in the office
and the workshop that Mr. Harrison interested
himself. When the day's work was over he was a

24 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

welcome and honoured guest by the fireside, and
was regarded, indeed, as a member of the little
family : more as an elder brother, or a second
father, than as an ordinary friend. The feeling of
affection, and even of veneration, inspired by Mr.
Harrison permanently existed, with unabated force,
in the mind of his friend. In his old age Sir
Josiah Mason was never weary of speaking to those
who were honoured with his intimacy, of the
sterling qualities, the kindliness, the honesty, and
the capacity of Mr. Harrison — to whom, indeed,
Sir Josiah traced all the success which attended his
own business life, and enabled him to engage in the
works of benevolence connected with his name and
perpetuating his memory.

But little is known of Mr. Harrison, except-
ing through Sir Josiah Mason's recollections of
their connection in his later years. The scattered
facts relating to him prove, however, that he
deserved to be reckoned amongst the long line of
ingenious and honourable manufacturers who have
created the reputation of Birmingham, and have
laid the foundation of her industrial prosperity.
His trade — the split-ring making — was only a minor
one amongst the many branches of metal working
in the town ; but he contrived to make it profit-
able by his industry and ingenuity. Before his
time these rings were laboriously made in small
numbers, by filing and bending; but Mr. Harrison

DR. PRIESTLETS PENS. 25

adapted the stamping press to the manufacture of
them, and he was the inventor of the flat ring now
commonly used for bunches of keys. He was a
great friend of Dr. Priestley during the doctor's
residence in Birmingham ; and he used, with much
glee, to tell Mr. Mason how Dr. Priestley could not
be got to understand the manner in which split-
rings were made, until he was taken into the
workshop in Lancaster Street, and shown the
operation of the stamp, which made the ring at
a single blow, on which, Mr. Harrison said, the
doctor " threw up his hands, and exclaimed, ' With
all my philosophy, I could not have dreamt of such
a thing ! ' " It was not only by initiating him into
the mystery of ring-making that Mr. Harrison was
associated with Priestley. He took part in some
of the doctor's philosophical experiments, particu-
larly in those relating to the air gun, and to the
electrical machine ; and on Dr. Priestley complaining
that he could not get satisfactory pens to write
with, Mr. Harrison set to work and made him some
steel pens — the first, no doubt, that were produced
in Birmingham. Of these pens Sir Josiah Mason
long had some specimens, given to him by Mr.
Harrison. They were made about the year 1780,
out of sheet steel, formed into a tube, and filed
into shape ; the joining of the metal making the
slit. Dr. Priestley was highly gratified with his
novel writing instrument, and commonly used it ;

26 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

and Sir Josiah Mason told the writer that he also
had, for a long time, used some of Mr. Harrison's
pens, and had found them excellent. One incident
in Mr. Harrison's life may be recorded here. He
was an Unitarian, a member of Dr. Priestley's con-
gregation at the New Meeting. When the Church
and King mob, in 1791, set itself to the business of
sacking the houses of the Unitarians, Mr. Harrison
hurried to his friend Dr. Priestley's residence at
Fairhill, near the town, to see if he could render
help in protecting it. He was too late, however, to
be of service, for he found the building in flames.
Lingering amongst the crowd, he heard the rioters
talking of other houses that were next to be
attacked, and amongst them his own was men-
tioned. Prompted by a not unnatural desire to
save his property, he ran as fast as he could
back to Lancaster Street, closed the shutters, and
chalked upon them the talismanic inscription —
" Church and King ! " Scarcely had he got inside
the house than the mob made its appearance. The
ringleaders read the unexpected words upon the
shutters, raised a cheer, which was heartily repeated
by their followers, and then the whole body
marched away, to carry on the work of destruction
in other quarters of the town. Thus Mr. Harrison
saved his property ; but, when telling the story to
Mason, he added, " It was the only transaction of
my life of which I felt ashamed !" Mr. Harrison

PROVIDENTIAL GUIDANCE. 27

died in 1833, at the age of seventy-four, and was
buried in St. Philip's church-yard, where his tomb-
stone may still be seen.

Eeturning from this digression to the proper
subject of this memoir, we have Mason fairly
started in a lucrative business on his own account,
free from all difficulties, and with fortune before
him. Considering his early perplexities, and his
recent disappointment, it was by no means a bad
beginning for a young man of eight and twenty.
At the least, it promised competence, and perhaps
affluence, as the result of some years of labour.
Looking back to that time, it was his (Josiah
Mason's) habit to confess that, in familiar phrase,
he had much to be thankful for. He had been
led, as he believed by direct Providential guidance,
to come to Birmingham just when his uncle needed
assistance in his trade, and this had fixed him in
the town, and had marked out the course of his
future life. When his just expectations were de-
feated, a good opening had been disclosed to him
— again, as he believed, by the interposition of
Providence — at the very moment in which his
prospects appeared to be especially unpromising.
At a comparatively early age, by the generous
kindness of his friend Mr. Harrison, he became
the master of a business of his own, and was thus
^put into a position to make his way in the world
by independent exertion. From that period his

28 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

career was one of uninterrupted prosperity, so far
as regards business affairs ; and this prosperity
was due to unremitting industry, to a high degree
of inventive and organising skill, to knowing when
and how to venture large sums in new enterprises,
and to a rare faculty of dealing with men ; and, it
may also be conceived, to a certain loftiness of
aim in the ultimate use of whatever wealth he
might acquire, it being always in his mind to
do something for the poor, and especially for the
education of children, for whom — though he was
not blessed with any of his own — he had a strong
feeling of affection.

That the business acquired from Mr. Harrison
was well worth having, we have already seen,
from the fact that the purchase money was paid
out of profits in little more than six months. Three
years later, in 1828, Mason had not only extended
his trade by taking in new premises, but had
bought the premises at 36, Lancaster Street, in
which the business was carried on. These ad-
vances were rendered easier by the rapid expansion
of the split-ring trade under Mason's conduct of it,
through improvements which he devised in the
means of production. Amongst these, the most
important was his invention of machinery for
" bevelling " hoop rings. These rings were then
made by hand, slowly and at considerable cost.
Mason saw that they could be made much more

A NEW MACHINE. 29

quickly and cheaply, and so, setting his ingenuity
to work, he devised a bevelling machine. By this
improvement he gained £1,000 in a single year,
the improved rings then selling at sixpence each.
The machine, constructed so far back as 1825, is
actually at work at this date in the manufactory in
Lancaster Street, and is doing its work as well
as ever — no slight tribute to the skill of the in-
ventor, and the soundness of his workmanship.

CHAPTER III.

The Steel Pen Trade.

Soon after taking to the split-ring business,
Mr. Mason added to it a new enterprise — that of
steel pen making. At first the manufacture was
conducted by him on a small scale, and was con-
fined to the production of barrel pens ; but after a
little while it was extended, and by his connection
with Mr. James Perry, the inventor of the Perryian
pens, Mason became very largely engaged in the
trade, and ultimately obtained the position of being
the largest pen-maker in the world. It has been
mentioned that his predecessor, Mr. Harrison, made
steel pens for Dr. Priestley, as far back as the year
1780 ; but these were not in any sense articles of
commerce. Early in the present century, however,
barrel pens began to be made in Sheffield, in
Staffordshire, and in Birmingham ; and in 1828
Mason began to make them. Some time before
this date — as early as 1825 — Mr. James Perry had
engaged in the pen trade in Manchester, and after-
wards in London. He was thus in advance of
Mitchell, or Gillott, or Mason ; but his pens differed
from theirs by not being entirely machine made.
The blank was stamped, and was then filed into
shape, and a mark for the slit was made while the

STEEL PEN MAKING. 31

metal remained in a soft condition. After harden-
ing, the pen was struck with a small hammer, and
by thus cracking it at the place previously marked,
the slit was formed. Pens thus made were, of
course, much more costly than if they had been
produced entirely by machinery. Mr. Perry not
only made barrel pens, but also "slip" pens, for
which goose quills were used as holders, but these
were also slit in the manner above described.
" Perry/' Sir Josiah Mason says in a memorandum
in the writer's possession, " was not the first maker
of steel pens, but I have no doubt that he was the
first steel ' slip' pen maker, and no doubt the first
to use a goose quill as a holder : hence the slip.
But Perry certainly never made a pen as they are
now made — namely, by cutting the slit with press
tools — all he made were made with the cracked
slit." There is a great distinction implied in the
preceding sentence. Slitting by machinery is the
essential feature of the steel pen manufacture as
now conducted ; and the question of real interest
in the trade is not who was the first maker of pens
of steel, but who first made pens by machinery as
a mechanical process, and thus enabled them to be
cheaply sold as articles of common use. The credit
of this great improvement belongs unquestionably
to three persons, all of them working in Birming-
ham — Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Gillott, and Mr. Mason.
The first named had slightly the priority in date :

32 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

the others began about the same time — both, un-
known to each other, hitting upon the plan of
making the slit by the press and the die, instead of
by means of cracking. There was, however, one
considerable difference between them. The names
of Mitchell and of Gillott became well known as
pen-makers, while the name of Mason remained
obscured — for the reason that while the others dealt
in pens on their own account, Mason for many
years supplied all he made to Mr. Perry, and
stamped them solely with Perry's name. This was
commonly supposed to have been his own choice,
for throughout his life he desired to remain as little
known as possible — having, indeed, a feeling of
positive shrinking from notoriety. But, in regard
to the pen-making, Mason did not desire to con-
ceal his name. He consented to do so only in
accordance with a business arrangement. This
is proved by a memorandum drawn up by him in
1874, the original of which is now in the hands of
Mr. Maurice Pollack, who was for many years
associated with him in the pen-works. It is as
follows: — "In the year 1827 I made barrel steel
pens, and in the year 1828 I saw a steel * slip' pen
of Perry's make. I at once conceived the idea of a
great improvement, and made and sent one to
Perry. This brought him down from London that
night to see the man who made that wonderful
steel pen, as he was pleased to say. His excitement

THE PERRYIAN PENS. 33

was excessive; he returned, and in the same week
came again, bringing Mr. Hayes with him, and
they at once said they would not return until some
arrangements were made about the future. The
first thing they proposed was to bind me in ada-
mantine chains to make those pens only for them.
Then came the important question about the name.
It being my invention, I contended that my name
should show itself. It was a long and important
matter to decide. I gave way for their name (that
of Perry) by their undertaking that no other persons
should make pens for them, and that they would
enter into any agreement I required for that pur-
pose ; and for forty-six years I have been the only
maker."

Mr. Mason's introduction to Mr. Perry, touched
upon in the foregoing note, and his consequent
entrance upon steel pen making upon a large
scale, happened in a curious way. The following
account of it is transcribed from a paper written by
himself in 1873 : — "About 1829, 1 saw in a book-
shop window in Bull Street, Birmingham (Mr.
Peart's), nine ' slip' pens on a card, marked three
and sixpence. The novelty, and the thought of
Mr. Harrison's pen, induced me to go in. Mr.
Peart was writing with one of the pens. He said
it was ' a regular pin/ I instantly saw that I could
improve upon it, and offered to buy one of the pens.
Mr. Peart, however, would not sell less than the

34 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

whole card ; but at last he consented to sell me the
one he was writing with, and so I bought the
'pin' for sixpence. I returned home, and made
three pens that evening, and enclosed the best of
the three in a letter, for which I paid ninepence
postage — what a change now, to only one penny I
I had not the slightest knowledge of the maker ;
but having, with difficulty, made out the letters
stamped upon the pen I had purchased, to be
' Perry, Ked Lion Square, London/ I sent my letter
there. This brought Mr. James Perry to 36,
Lancaster Street, the following day but one, by
eight o'clock in the morning; and from that moment
I became a steel pen maker. Perry and Co. were
my only customers for many years. From our
first interview to the present time I have been the
sole and only maker of the Persian and the steel B
pens sold under Perry's name." At first the pens
were sold to Mr. Perry in comparatively small
quantities. Sir Josiah Mason's books show that in
1829 and 1830 the supplies consisted of twenty or
thirty gross at a time. The first lot of one hundred
gross at one time was despatched to London on the
20th of November, 1830. In 1831, pens to the
value of £1,421 were made by Mason for Mr. Perry,
and from that time — as the demand grew with
reduced prices — increased machinery and a larger
number of workpeople were provided to meet it,
until Sir Josiah Mason became the largest pen-

THE SLITTING PRESS. 35

maker in the world, and employed by far the largest
number of "hands" in the trade. After making
an agreement with Mr. Perry as above mentioned,
Mason went into the new business with his cus-
tomary energy and method. From the first he
declined to depend upon any one besides him-
self. Obtaining steel wire from Sheffield, he set
up rolls to reduce it to the required thickness
for pen-making, and had the necessary presses
made under his own superintendence by Mr.
John Drane, a machinist then well known in
Birmingham. Some of the original presses are still
in constant work in the factory. One part of
the process of pen-making — now commonly known
— was then kept profoundly secret by Mr. Gillott
and Mr. Mason. This was the method of slitting
pens by means of the press, instead of by the
old and uncertain method of cracking. Mason
himself, with his own hands, made the dies and
punches required for the slitting, and the presses
in which these were fixed were worked by two
or three women, in a separate room, to which
none but the actual workers and their master
were admitted. So jealous was the system of
exclusion that even Drane, the machinist, who
made the presses, never saw them in action,
fitted with the necessary dies and punches,
although all other parts of the business were
freely open to him. Drane thought, however,

36 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

that he had mastered the secret, and he con-
sequently made a number of presses, with which
he set up as a pen-maker. But though he
produced admirably shaped and finished pens, the
slit was never properly made, and the presses
were therefore useless. The vexation of this failure
is believed to have hastened Drane into the grave.
An estrangement had grown up between him and
Mason, in consequence of the rivalry which Drane
had attempted ; but on his death-bed he sent for
Mason, and a reconciliation so complete took place,
that Drane expressed a strong desire that the
whole of his pen-making tools should pass into the
hands of his former friend, as a gift. This, how-
ever, Mason refused ; but he was desirous to
buy the tools, an intention which was thwarted
by Drane's executor, who sold the presses to a
St. Petersburg firm, and they were exported to
that city.

Another fact of personal interest is worthy
of being put on record. It has been stated that
Mason and Gillott began pen -making by machinery
about the same time, and unknown to each other.
They had no personal acquaintance for nearly two
years afterwards, when Mr. Gillott one day met
Mr. Mason in the street, introduced himself, com-
plimented him upon the quality of his pens, and
there and then proposed that they should go into
partnership, saying as an inducement — " Let us

TRADING WITH MR. GILLOTT. 37

join, and not another man shall make a pen
besides us." This anecdote Sir Josiah Mason
related as an illustration of the friendly spirit
and honourable rivalry which existed between the
two leading pen-makers. He added, that though
he declined the suggestion of working together —
preferring to stand by himself and to continue
his relations with Mr. Perry — yet he and
Mr. Gillott had business transactions together.
Mr. Mason was the first person in the trade
to make the cedar pen-holders, with metallic
receptacles for the " slip " pen. These he intro-
duced in 1832 for Mr. Perry, and in 1835 he
made them also for Mr. Gillott. His trade books
show that as lately as 1840 he sold nearly £300
worth of " stick pen-holders " to Mr. Gillott.

All that relates to Mason's connection with
the pen trade must be of interest, at least to
Birmingham readers, and therefore it is proper to
insert at this point a memorandum drawn up from
personal knowledge by Mr. Maurice Pollack, which
shows that Mason had intimate relations with other
dealers in pens, besides those with whom he was
originally associated :

In accordance with Sir Josiah Mason's manuscript, he
began making barrel steel pens in 1827, and slip pens in 1828.
From the same document it will be seen that all the pens he
made were marked Perry and Co. I believe this trade went on
successfully until the time when Mr. Mason became connected
with Elkingtons, and that it then gradually went down. In

38 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

1852, Mr. Sansum, at that time foreman of the works, called
upon Mr. Sommerville to ask him to sell some of their make.
Mr. Sommerville, who had been connected in former years with
Hinks, Wells, and Co., had left Birmingham in 1836, but had
returned in 1851 as the agent of a Brussels firm, with which
I was connected. I was sent over to manage the business, and
thus became allied with Mr. Sommerville. When Mr. Sansum
called the works did not produce more than 1,400 gross per
week. The pens then made were very ingenious. A great
many of them had been the subjects of patents. But the prices
were high, and the patterns were not popular. From that time
dates the connection of A. Sommerville and Co., which at
first was very small. In 1852 or '53 Mr. Sansum left Mr.
Mason (Mr. Sommerville having procured him a situation in
France), and Mr. Isaac Smith became the manager of the steel
pen works. Mr. Mason, a few years previously, had made
over to his brother Kichard the split-ring works and business,
but at the death of Mr. Kichard Mason they again became the
property of Mr. Josiah Mason. Mr. Isaac and Mr. William
Smith, sons of Mr. Mason's sister, were working for their uncle
Richard, and afterwards for their uncle Josiah. Isaac Smith
had, however, been apprenticed to the steel pen tool making,
and at one time was the slitting-tool maker at Mr. William
Mitchell's. He was, therefore, well qualified to take the
management of the pen works, where his great ingenuity,
fondness for innovation, and desire for improvement had free
scope. He soon gave the pen trade a new start, by producing
new patterns, which he stimulated Perry and Co. to adopt,
and by encouraging A. Sommerville and Co. in giving them
liberal terms. And so the trade gradually grew until 1855,
when the works were considerably increased. A. Sommerville
and Co. introduced Mason's produce on the Continent. Each
pen was marked 'A. Sommerville and Co., Josiah Mason,
manufacturer/ and the pens being of a very superior quality,
and Mr. Sommerville a good salesman, they soon found a
market on the Continent, which increased more and more, and
there the Somerville-Mason pens are known to this day as the
best pens made. Most of them continue to bear the joint
names of A Sommerville and Co. and Sir Josiah Mason. In 1858

SIEMENS' GAS GENERATOR. 39

the pen-works were further increased. Shortly afterwards Mr.
W. Smith, who had worked hand in hand with his brother
Isaac, died. At that time from eight to ten thousand gross
were manufactured weekly. Mason invented, in 1858, a new
pen box, which was patented. This box showed on the out-
side a specimen pen in a recess, so that it was not necessary to
open the box to see what there was within it. He made use of
this invention to introduce to the trade a selection of steel pens
bearing the marks, * Perry and Co., London ; Josiah Mason,
Birmingham.' These pens were introduced reluctantly by
Messrs. Perry, as it was feared they would interfere with the
latter's regular trade. But, nevertheless, many of them found
their way to the markets of the world, and hundreds of thou-
sands of grosses so marked sell to-day. Thus the name of Mason
in connection with Sommerville and Perry became gradually
known to the .writing world, chiefly abroad; but Mason's
arrangements with Sommerville and Perry prevented his
trading direct with other houses, unless with their consent.
So stimulated, the trade grew more and more. At that time
Mr. Mason was too much engaged with his Orphanage to pay
much attention to the pen trade, which was left almost
entirely in the hands of Mr. Isaac Smith.

The muffles are a very important factor in the art of pen-
making. Originally Mr. Mason, for his smaller trade, had
invented a rotatory muffle, but this proved impracticable for a
larger quantity of work, and Mr. Isaac Smith's ingenuity was con-
stantly at labour to produce a novel system of muffles, until he
conceived the idea of using Siemens' gas generators. This brought
him in contact with Dr. Otto Siemens, who superintended the
building of new muffles. These had the double purpose of demon-
strating their utility in pen-making, and the possibility of manu-
facturing heating gas at a very low price ; to which circumstance
was mainly due a new but abortive gas company, which intended
to supply Birmingham, in its households and manufactories,
with heating gas at a price lower than coal !Nor did the gas
muffles answer at that time, as they had to give way to another
system. It was only a few years later, in 1873, when Mr. Mason
having recourse to Dr. G. W. Siemens, now the President of the
Midland Institute, did, with the assistance of his engineer,

40 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Mr. Simcox, construct muffles heated by gas produced upon the
premises. These are in operation to this day. Under the
indefatigable exertions of Mr. Isaac Smith, and with the co-
operation of Messrs. A. Sommerville and Co. and Perry and Co.,
the trade grew more and more and continued flourishing until
the lamented death of Mr. Smith in 1868. He was succeeded
in the management of the business by Mr. W. F. Batho, who
took a leading part in all the enterprises of Sir Josiah Mason,
and who also assisted in the promotion of what ultimately
became the. Scientific College. At the beginning of 1871 Mr.
Batho severed his connection with Mr. Mason, who having then
completed his Orphanage, and having more leisure at his
command, resumed personally the management of his pen works.
Previous to that period he purchased the business of Messrs. A.
Sommerville and Co., but the fact was not known to the public,
Mr. Sommerville generally being abroad, and Mr. Pollack con-
tinuing at the head of the business. The increase of trade
accruing through this purchase induced Mr. Mason to give his
works a new start, and for two or three years he added to them,
until he laid the foundation for producing 40,000 gross of pens
weekly. This quantity was, however, never reached when he sold
his works to the trustees of a company who carry on the business
under the title of Perry and Co., Limited. This was at the end
of 1875, and at that time the output exceeded 32,000 gross
weekly ; but the works embraced, besides the making of steel
pens, that of pen-holder sticks, pen-holder tips, paper-binders,
and a host of minor articles. Towards the end of 1873 the
home trade was first cultivated, and a series of steel pens of the
most perfect finish, each pen being stamped Sir Josiah Mason,
was produced, and such pens are selling at this day.
At the time of Sir Josiah Mason leaving the works, close
upon 1,000 workpeople, four-fifths of whom were women, were
employed. Some of the hands had been with him for very
many years, and one or two of them since he started pen-
making.

This account of Sir Josiah Mason's connec-
tion with the pen trade will no doubt surprise
many persons who believe themselves to be well

PEN MAKING. 41

acquainted with the trades of the town. Owing to
his connection with Mr. Perry his interest in pen-
making was unknown, excepting to comparatively-
few, until recent years ; and millions who used the
famous Perryian pens never dreamed that all of
them were made by a single manufacturer in
Birmingham. It was the same, as Mr. Pollack's
memorandum shows, as regards the great Con-
tinental and American trade conducted for many
years by Sir Josiah Mason. His foreign pens, like
those for the home market, have been uniformly
made for large customers — mostly one in each
country — and the names of these have been
stamped upon the pens; so that here, also, the
maker remained unknown. Within a few years
before retiring from business, Sir Josiah Mason
began to issue pens in his own name ; and was, by
some persons, supposed to be a new maker —
whereas, in fact, he stood foremost in the trade as
regarded seniority; foremost in the rank of im-
provers, by the invention of the machine slit, at
the same time as Mr. Gillott ; and first of all in
the magnitude of his works, and the amount of his
produce. The general facts above stated will give
the reader some idea of the vastness of the estab-
lishment, and the capacity of its resources. This
idea may be aided, perhaps, by the further state-
ment that at the time of Sir Josiah Mason's
retirement about sixty tons of pens were constantly

42 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

in movement throughout the place. When the
reader is told that nearly a million and a half of
pens may go to a single ton, he may form an
estimate of the magnitude of an establishment
capable of dealing with sixty times this number,
and of the extent of a trade which demanded and
consumed such a vast supply.

CHAPTER IV.

Electro-plating : Elkington and Mason.

In 1842 Mr. Mason engaged in a new enter-
prise, in connection with which his name was
destined to become more widely known. This was
the electro-plating trade, then established by Mr.
G. K. Elkington, in conjunction with his brother,
Mr. Henry Elkington, and afterwards conducted
for many years, with increasing reputation and
prosperity, by the firm of Elkington, Mason, and Co.
It is not necessary here to give a history of the
discovery of electro metallurgy, or the application
of the electro deposit process to the production of
works of industrial or fine art. It will be enough
to say that up to 1840 the method of plating
in use in Birmingham and Sheffield was that
of hand-plating of silver on copper, a slow and
costly process, which was carried to its highest
perfection by Messrs. Boulton and Watt, at
the Soho Works, and afterwards by Sir Edward
Thomason and other manufacturers. By de-
grees, however, the great discovery of Volta
began to bear fruit in the development of
the principle he had disclosed. Further experi-
ments were made by our own countrymen and
others — Nicholson, Carlisle, Dr. Henry, and Dr.

U LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Wollaston, the last of whom, in the Transactions
of the Eoyal Society, 1801, records the first actual
example of the deposition of metals by the electro-
type process — " If (he writes) a piece of silver in
connection with a more positive metal be put into
a solution of copper, the silver is coated over with
the copper, which coating will stand the action of
burnishing." In 1805, in The Philosophical
Magazine, occurs the first indication of the appli-
cation of the process to an artistic purpose, in a
letter from Signor Brugnaletti, which states that
he " gilt in a complete manner two large silver
medals, by bringing them into communication by
means of a steel wire with the negative pole of a
voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other
immersed in ammoniuret of gold, newly made and
well saturated. " Nothing more seems to have been
effected until 1834, when Mr. Henry Bessemer
electro-deposited copper on lead castings. Two
years later Professor Daniell's battery brought
the process of electro-deposition a long step nearer
to useful application ; then followed Mr. De la Kue's
experiments ; and then, in quick succession, the
discoveries and experiments of Professor Jacobi,
of St. Petersburg, Mr. Jordan, Mr. Thomas Spencer,
of Liverpool, and others. The earliest endeavours
to apply the process to commercial purposes were
made by Mr. Gr. K. Elkington and his brother, Mr.
Henry Elkington. In 1838 they coated military

ELECTROPLATING. 45

and other metal ornaments with gold and silver,
by immersing them in solutions of those metals ;
and in July, 1838, they patented a process for
coating copper and brass with zinc by means of an
electric current generated by a piece of zinc attached
to the articles by a wire, and immersed in the
metallic solution with them. This was the first
patent in which a separate current of electricity
was employed for plating purposes. Early in 1840
Messrs. Elkington were patenting a process for
coating articles of copper with silver by a method
of fusion, and also by means of a solution of oxide
of silver in pure ammonia, when Mr. John Wright,
a surgeon in Birmingham, submitted to them his
researches in the use of the cyanides of gold and
silver in electro-plating, by which a thick, firm,
and white deposit of silver was obtained, closely
adhesive, and capable of resisting the action of
the air. This process was incorporated in Messrs.
Elkington's patent, and electro-deposition became
a practicable art, capable of being turned to com-
mercial account, and requiring only capital and
industry to ensure its full development.

It was at this period that Mr. Mason joined
Mr. Elkington in business. They had been made
acquainted shortly before by a negotiation on the
part of Mr. Elkington for the purchase of Mr.
Mason's then residence, Woodbrooke, at North-
field, near Birmingham. As Mr. Elkington re-

46 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

quired capital for the extension of his business,
and as Mr. Mason showed that he had intelligence
to comprehend the value of the new method of
plating, and courage enough to risk his money in
developing the process, an arrangement was
effected between them. The actual date of the
partnership was March 29, 1842. It required
some courage, for the electro process was new and
comparatively untried, and, in the opinion of "prac-
tical " men, its success was highly problematical.
Indeed, as Mr. Mason observes, in some notes now
lying before the writer — " My connection with
Mr. Elkington alarmed my dear and best friends,
as they thought certain ruin would be the result of
such untried speculation. Many of the platers on
the old system called upon me, and with pure
kindness cautioned me. I certainly had no idea
that I could receive so much good advice from
people I scarcely knew even by name." To those
who looked only at the surface of things, and
clung to old processes, from dislike of the worry
and cost of change, or from fear of risking money,
these cautions were not unnatural. There was
much to do before the new process could be
brought to perfection, or could be made a com-
mercial success. The trade, masters and men,
almost unanimously resisted it; and purchasers
were difficult to persuade — they fancied that the
product of electro -deposition could not be as real,

DIFFICULTIES OF THE TRADE. 47

solid, and durable as the articles produced by the
old method of solid plating. Mr. Elkington,
however, had confidence in the improved method,
and so had Mr. Mason, who, with his partner,
saw clearly that a scientific process, capable of
being applied and worked to an indefinite extent,
and by self-acting means, must ultimately displace
the slow, cumbrous, and costly system of hand-
plating, which was dependent upon the skill and
quickness of a limited number of workmen.

The first idea of Mr. Elkiogton was not to
manufacture articles by the electro process, but to
grant licenses under his patent. But, owing to the
causes above stated, this was found to be almost
hopeless. The trade would not take the licenses,
and the patent seemed likely to run out without
yielding valuable results to its possessor. It became
necessary, therefore, to prove the merits of electro-
plating by entering upon the manufacture of plated
wares : there was no other method of demonstration
open. Here Mr. Mason's organising faculty and
business capacity became of the highest value.
What Boulton had been to Watt, in an earlier
period of the history of Birmingham manufactures,
Mason became to Elkington. " It was not," writes
Mr. Mason, " my first intention to take an active
part with Mr. Elkington. I desired in this, as I
had done in the pen trade, to suppress my name as
much as possible ; but the great and incessant call

48 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

for money in the business needed my personal
care." His efforts were consequently directed to
the work of making the new trade pay. Being
embarked in it, he undertook this with charac-
teristic energy, and with a power of concentrated
labour which few men could have equalled. It
was necessary to provide suitable buildings for a
manufactory ; and the great establishment now
existing in Newhall Street, Birmingham, was
resolved upon. This was Mr. Mason's own design.
He found the money, and laid out the plans of the
workshops and the showroom, which were built
entirely after his own arrangements. These works
were intended for the production of articles of taste,
and of those domestic articles to which ornament
could be applied. But Mason saw clearly that for
a considerable time the business must largely
depend upon productions of a humbler description,
in common use, capable of being supplied in any
quantity equal to the demand, and of being sold at
a comparatively cheap rate. This led to the
establishment of a manufactory in Brearley Street,
Birmingham, for the production of electro-plated
spoons and forks. Here, with ample space and
abundant means, every appliance of mechanical
skill was provided for the preliminary processes,
and the electro-deposition was carried on upon a
scale which proved to the hand-platers that in the
new method, backed by capital and energy, and

EXHIBITION OF 1851. 49

directed by a spirit of courage and enterprise, they
had not so much encountered a rival, as they had
found a master, and ultimately a destroyer. Mr.
Mason did not, however, stop here. His views and
those of his partner extended with the growth of
their business, and with the establishment of their
goods in public favour. While Birmingham formed
the head-quarters of the trade, and while visitors
were attracted to Newhall Street from all parts of
England, the Continent, and America, it was
thought desirable to go boldly into the great
markets, and consequently extensive showrooms
and warehouses were opened in London and
Liverpool : these being Mr. Mason's own particular
work. After these years of labour and outlay,
Elkington and Mason reaped a rich reward for
their skill and enterprise. The Great Exhibition of
1851 gave them the means of demonstrating their
triumph ; and from that date to the present day —
holding their ground by successive advances — they
have stood at the head of the electro-plating trade
throughout the world : foremost in quality and
design, in enterprise, in the magnitude of their
operations, and in the reputation they have
achieved.

There is no desire to claim for Mason a
larger share than is due to him in the merit of
this success. Other capitalists might doubtless
have been found, in time, who would have

50 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

developed the new undertaking. But it is incon-
testible that the progress of the trade is due, in
a great measure, to his insight in recognising the
value of the improved method of plating, to his
courage in risking vast sums of money in what
was then confessedly an experiment, to his capacity
for organising large works, to his perseverance in
overcoming trade difficulties, and to his patient en-
durance in waiting for the success which he
foresaw. But for him, indeed, the trade- -now
one of the staple industries of the town — might
have gone from Birmingham altogether, for the
obstacles which Mr. Elkington had to encounter
here were of a magnitude and a nature to daunt
the resolution of any single man, and to drive
him to seek some place in which prejudice held
less powerful sway. His fortunate association
with Mr. Mason averted the necessity of a sacrifice
so painful, and secured the town against a loss
so serious. No business union could have been
more satisfactory ; nor, it is permissible to say,
could any have been more agreeable or honourable
to those immediately concerned. The good under-
standing established at first continued unbroken
until the dissolution of the partnership, imme-
diately before Mr. Elkington's death, on September
2nd, 1865 ; and years afterwards Sir Josiah Mason
recalled with pleasure the memory of his former
associate, dwelt with interest upon the incidents

HIS ORGANISING FACULTY. 51

of their connection, and narrated with kindly
feeling the many admirable points of character
which Mr. Elkington displayed during the long
period for which they were in business together.

Mr. Mason's part in the undertaking has been
generally indicated in this brief narration. While
Mr. Elkington stood prominent as the repre-
sentative of the house before the public, and
while he devoted himself to the scientific and
artistic developments of the trade, Mr. Mason
was the business director. He found the capital
required at the outset, and as the undertaking
developed, be was always prepared for new
demands, consequent upon the increasing trade.
He planned and organised ; he laid out the
general scheme of the works, and mastered the
minutest details. At the same time he took a
keen though subsidiary interest in the progress of
the Art work which has always honourably dis-
tinguished the firm. In the scientific progress
of the manufacture, and the improvement of
mechanical processes, he was thoroughly at home,
for these, as we have already seen, were matters
which interested him deeply. He was ever willing,
and indeed eager, to examine suggestions of im-
proved method — provided always that he could
see the probability of an ultimate useful and
profitable application of the proposals — and when
such methods where devised, he grudged no pains

52 . LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

or cost to ascertain their value by a long series
of experiments : himself not ^infrequently contri-
buting valuable hints, and getting at results by
the intuitive judgment which was one of his
characteristics. It is only proper, therefore, to
recognise the important share he took in the
creation and progress of an art to which Birmingham
owes so much, and of an establishment of which
Birmingham is so justly proud. The visitor who
is conducted through Messrs. Elkington's works,
who views the magnificent collection of examples
of Art and utility in the showrooms, or who
examines the long series of studios, workshops, and
depositing rooms, observing with admiration the
proofs they afford of the triumphs that may be
achieved by the union of science and art, of capital,
skill, and energy, may well remember that in its
origin and its development the vast undertaking
and its results are greatly due to the foresight, the
courage, the capacity, and the labour of Josiah
Mason, in conjunction with George Richards
Elkingtbn. Indeed, although the name of the
firm has undergone a change, it will be known,
by this generation at least, under the old familiar
title of Elkington and Mason.

In reference to this connection with Mr. G.
E. Elkington, it is desirable to put on record
the actual dates and duration of the partnership.
The first deed dates from March 29, 1842, and

DR. C. W. SIEMENS. 53

establishes a partnership between George Eichards
Elkington, Josiah Mason, and Henry Elkington, as
electro-platers, the business being carried on at
Newhall Street and Brearley Street, Birmingham.
This partnership subsisted until July 31, 1852,
when Mr. Henry Elkington retired, and the partner-
ship was renewed between Mr. G. R. Elkington and
Mr. Mason, for a term of fourteen years. It was
finally dissolved just previous to the death of
Mr. G. E. Elkington, which took place on the
22nd of September, 1865. Mr. Mason, it should
be added, was never in partnership with the
members of the present firm of Elkington and
Co., the sons of Mr. G. E. Elkington.

It has been mentioned that Mr. Mason was
always ready to consider suggestions made to him
for the improvement of processes in which he was
interested. One illustration of this readiness is
afforded by an incident related by Dr. C. W.
Siemens, F.E.S., in his address as president of the
Birmingham and Midland Institute (October 20th,
1881). He had referred to the International
Exhibition of Electricity, at Paris, and thus
proceeded : —

" That form of energy known as the electric current was
nothing more than the philosopher's delight forty years ago. Its
first practical application may be traced to this good town of
Birmingham, where Mr. George Elkington, utilising the dis-
coveries of Davy, Faraday, and Jacobi, had established a
practical process of electro-plating in 1842. It affords me great

54 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

satisfaction to be able to state that I bad something to do with
that first application of electricity; for in March of the following
year, 1843, I presented myself before Mr. Elkington with an
improvement on his processes, which he adopted, and in so
doing gave me my first start in practical life. Considering the
moral lesson involved, it may interest you, perhaps, if I diverge
for a few minutes from my subject in order to relate a personal
incident co / nnected with this my first appearance amongst you.

" When the electrotype process first became known it
excited a very general interest, and although I was only a young
student of Gottingen, under twenty years of age, who had just
entered upon his practical career with a mechanical engineer, I
joined my brother Werner Siemens, then a young lieutenant of
artillery in the Prussian service, in his endeavours to accomplish
electro-gilding, the first impulse in this direction having been
given by Professor C. Himly, then of Gottingen. After
attaining some promising results, a spirit of enterprise came
over me so strong that I tore myself away from the narrow
circumstances surrounding me, and landed at the East End of
London with only a few pounds in my pocket and without friends,
but with an ardent confidence of ultimate success within my
breast. I expected to find some office in which inventions were
examined into, and rewarded if found meritorious ; but no one
could direct me to such a place. In walking along Finsbury
Pavement I saw written up in large letters, ' So and So '
(I forget the name), ' Undertaker/ and the thought struck me
that this must be the place I was in quest of ; at any rate, I
.thought that a person advertising himself as an 'undertaker'
would not refuse to look into my invention with a view of
obtaining for me the sought for recognition or reward. On
entering the place I soon convinced myself, however, that I
came decidedly too soon for the kind of enterprise here con-
templated, and finding myself confronted with the proprietor of
the establishment, I covered my retreat by what he must have
thought a very lame excuse. By dint of perseverance I found
my way to the patent office of Messrs. Poole and Carpmael, who
received me kindly and provided me with a letter of introduc-
tion to Mr. Elkington. Armed with this letter I proceeded to
Birmingham to plead my cause before your townsman.

HERR KRUPP. 55

" In thinking back to that time, I wonder at the patience
with which Mr. Elkington listened to what I had to say, being
very young, and scarcely able to find English words to convey
my meaning. After showing me what he was doing in the way
of electro-plating, Mr. Elkington sent me back to London in
order to read some patents of his own, asking me to return if,
after perusal, I still thought I could teach him anything. To
my great disappointment, I found that the chemical solutions I
had been using were actually mentioned in one of his patents,
although in a manner that would hardly have sufficed to enable
a third person to obtain practical results.

"On my return to Birmingham I frankly stated what I
had found, and with this frankness I evidently gained the
favour of another townsman of yours, Mr. Josiah Mason, who
had just joined Mr. Elkington in business, and whose name
as Sir Josiah Mason will ever be remembered for his munificent
endowment of education. It was agreed that I should not be
judged by the novelty of my invention, but by the results
which I promised — namely, of being able to deposit with a
smooth surface 3 dwt. of silver upon a dish-cover, the crystal-
line structure of the deposit having heretofore been a source of
difficulty. In this I succeeded, and I was able to return to my
native country and my mechanical engineering a comparative
Croesus."

Some time after the incident above related
by Dr. Siemens, another German inventor came
to Birmingham, with an introduction from Dr.
Siemens to Messrs. Elkington and Mason. This
was Herr Krupp, now Baron Krupp, the founder
and director of the great steel -works at Essen. He
had invented machinery for rolling the metal
" blanks," from which spoons and forks are made ;
the object being to lengthen the blanks by rolling,
in the manner in w^hich a piece of steel is thinned
down, and at the same time to impart greater

56 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

density to the metal. This machinery, protected
by patent, he offered to Messrs. Elkington and
Mason, at a price which Mr. Mason, who con-
ducted the negotiation, considered too large. The
offer made by the firm was £10,000, and Mr.
Mason frankly told the inventor to go and try
to sell his patent elsewhere for a greater sum,
if he could, and if he could not, then to come
back and take the £10,000. Her Krupp availed
himself of the opportunity, but failed to realise
the higher price he desired. Consequently he
returned, and sold the invention to the Birming-
ham firm at the sum above-mentioned. The
rolls were first put in use in the Brearley Street
works in 1850, and are still employed there.
With the money thus obtained, Herr Krupp
started his works at Essen, and laid the foundation
of the great reputation and the colossal fortune
he has acquired. Shortly before his death, re-
calling this incident, Sir Josiah Mason mentioned
to a friend that Herr Krupp had more than
once invited him to become a partner in the
Essen establishment, but that the invitation had
been declined, on the ground that Sir Josiah's
time and means were fully employed in Bir-
mingham.

Another important business, in which Mr.
Mason was largely engaged, grew out of the
partnership with Mr. Elkington. A well-known

COPPER SMELTING. 57

and ingenious chemist, Mr. Alexander Parkes, who
was employed by the firm, took out a patent for
smelting copper ores, and purifying the copper
by means <}f phosphorus. This patent was sub-
mitted to Messrs. Elkington and Mason, and
acquired by them. It then became necessary to
obtain proper works for smelting, in a situation
convenient for the reception of the Cornish ore.
Mr. Elkington and Mr. Mason accordingly went
on a journey to South Wales, to select a suitable
site for their works. They first visited Swansea ;
but Mr. Mason, who had a strong relish for fresh
air for his workmen as well as for himself, did
not approve of the smoky neighbourhood; and
they resolved to go further. Consequently they
visited Llanelly. Here, at Bury Port, three miles
from Llanelly, and at the mouth of the Bury
Kiver, they found what appeared to be a suitable
place. A company of London speculators had
conceived the idea of making this a new port for
the South Wales trade, and had gone so far as
to construct a dock. The scheme, however, did
not prosper, and the works were abandoned. When
Mr. Elkington and Mr. Mason visited the place,
there was nothing to be seen but the neglected
dock, one public-house, and an extensive tract
of sand — a rabbit warren. The position was
excellent, the air good, the land moderately
cheap, and the dock convenient. So this was

8

58 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

decided upon as the site of the works, and twenty-
acres of land were purchased for the purpose of
erecting them. The direction of the undertaking
was assigned to Mr. Parkes, the inventor of the
process intended to be used ; and Mr. Mason
himself undertook the general superintendence.
Excellent works were laid out with great rapidity,
large, well built, and specially designed to secure
the health of the men engaged in them. By quick
degrees a considerable village — the village of
Pembrey— gathered in the neighbourhood; and
it becoming known that the proprietors of the
new Pembrey copper- works were disposed specially
to take care of their men, this brought an ample
choice of the best class of workpeople. The firm
took full charge of them. Suitable cottages were
built, each cottage having a garden allotted to it ;
collieries were opened to supply coal; schools
were erected for 350 children, and provision was
made for religious instruction. In short, on the
site which a little while before was a lonely and
desolate rabbit warren, there grew up a thriving,
populous, and healthy village, with the copper
works as its centre, and an important trade was
created, which remains in a flourishing condition
to the present date, and is now conducted by a
member of the firm of Elkington and Co.

During his connection with the copper works,
Mr. Mason took a particular interest in them,

SCHOOLS AT PEMBREY. 59

and especially in the schools established for the
children ; his love of children, and his intense
desire to promote their education, being already
strongly developed. These Pembrey schools con-
stituted, indeed, the forerunner of the great
works of charity to which he has since devoted
his fortune for the benefit of poor children. He
often recounted, with kindly feeling and much
humour, the difficulties which were encountered in
the task of getting the children under instruction.
The schools were excellent in character and
arrangement, and a thoroughly good master and
mistress were engaged; but despite these advan-
tages, the classes remained empty, or nearly so.
The Welsh copper-smelters and colliers obstinately
refused to allow their children to be taught
English. Free education did not tempt them;
rules were made and broken, orders were dis-
regarded. Mr. Mason, to use a homely phrase,
was at his wits' end to know how to get the
children into the schools. At last he hit upon
the expedient of bribing them to come. At each
visit to Pembrey he took down with him from
Birmingham a supply of articles which he thought
might prove attractive — hats, bonnets, shoes,
clothing of all kinds. These he distributed as
rewards to the children who came to the schools.
A few parents were induced to send by these
means. When the others found that a solid

60 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

advantage was to be gained, they followed the
example, and sent their children also. In a few
weeks, the hitherto empty schools were half-filled.
Finally, the bait proved irresistible, and the schools
were full. Having thus tempted the people to
allow their children to be instructed, Mr. Mason
set about teaching them to value education for
its own sake, as well as for the collateral benefits
it brought in the shape of useful presents. He
now required the payment of a penny fee for
each child. This was accepted by the parents ;
and a judicious system of rewards, united with
a thoroughly good method of teaching, did the
rest. The schools grew in favour, were always
well attended, and it was found possible to raise
the fees with the approbation of the parents.
There is no brighter feature in the history of
industrial enterprise. Not only was an important
trade created, and a flourishing community called
into existence, but the moral and intellectual
interests of the people were cared for as well as
their material prosperity; and habits of order
and good conduct were established among a class
proverbially rude and uncultivated.

Indirectly Mr. Mason, in conjunction with
Mr. Elkington, had to do with the development
of another trade of much importance. This was the
manufacture of India-rubber rings. These, under
Macintosh's and other patents, had been made by

INDIA-RUBBER TRADE. 61

rendering the material tough and elastic by impreg-
nating it with sulphur, by means of heat. Mr.
Alexander Parkes discovered a process by which
the same result could be obtained by immersing the
material in a solution, without heat ; and this plan,
besides effecting a saving of time and cost, had the
further advantage of doing away with the disagree-
able smell of the sulphur. For some time the
process was carried out by Messrs. Elkington and
Mason, at their Brearley Street works ; but
difficulties arose from the hostile action of other
patentees, and though the validity of Mr. Parkes's
patent was established, it was thought better to
dispose of the trade, which was accordingly trans-
ferred by sale to the representatives of the original
India-rubber manufacturers, Messrs. Macintosh
and Co.

CHAPTER V.

The Mason Orphanage and Almshouses.

We have now seen something of the means by
which Josiah Mason, the humble weaver's boy, had
in his mature years, come into the possession of
wealth. Industry, perseverance, and ingenuity laid
the foundation of his fortune. First the split-ring
trade acquired from his old friend Mr. Harrison,
and then the steel pen trade taken up by himself,
set him on the road to wealth. The simplicity of
his personal character restricted his wants, and as his
moderate though not niggardly scale of living
limited his outlay, the money acquired in the
trades above mentioned went on accumulating.
Then, having courage and sagacity, Mr. Mason
knew how to increase the store with which
Providence had blessed him, by entering boldly
upon a new enterprise, in conjunction with Mr.
Elkington, and afterwards, in the same connection,
founding the copper-works at Pembrey. No doubt
he enjoyed a real pleasure in thus making money.
Men who possess what is known as the business
character do feel this enjoyment very keenly. If
the care of their wealth entails upon them increased
labour, in the extension of their business, or other
methods of investing their capital, they take very

HIS USE OF WEALTH. 63

kindly to it, and often find the employment not
only congenial but healthful. It was so with
Josiah Mason. From childhood to old age, work
was a necessity to him, and even at a period of life
when most men would be dozing all day by the
fire-side, he was one of the steadiest and most
vigorous workers in the great factory which he
conducted. That he enjoyed the labour was evident
to all who had ever seen him at work ; that he
delighted in the additional means produced by
increasing trade was manifest to all who knew him.
But it was not a selfish enjoyment. If it had been,
this Memoir would never have been written; at
least by the same hand. If Josiah Mason had been
one of the ordinary type of money-making men —
those who create and accumulate wealth for the
mere pleasure of owning it, or for the power it
brings, or for the luxuries it commands, or for the
enrichment of a family, his life would not have been
worth writing. But he had always in mind higher
aims than these. We have seen that as a boy he
sacrificed what was then, to him, a prosperous
. business, for the sake of promoting the comfort of
an ailing brother. This was the key-note of his
character, and the spring of his works of
beneficence. The wealth he acquired was valued
by him chiefly as the means of doing good on a
great scale : he looked upon himself not so much as
the owner as the steward of it

64 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

The proof of this judgment is to be found in a
record of what he did with his wealth. He always
had a singular regard for aged and infirm people
and for children ; a subtle and tender sympathy
of health and strength for weakness and feebleness.
It was natural, therefore, that on beginning to think
of what he could do for the benefit of his fellow
creatures, these two classes should present the
strongest claims. This resulted in the establish-
ment of a small institution at Erdington — an alms-
house for aged women, and an orphanage for girls.
The institution, on its original scale — the fore-
runner of the magnificent orphanage now existing
— was begun in the year 1858. The origin of it
is worth recounting ; and, happily, it is possible to
record it in Sir Josiah Mason's own words. At the
writer's request, he furnished the following simple
and unstudied narrative, which speaks for itself
more eloquently than any laboured description
could do :

" I am asked, ' How was it that you came to
build an orphanage ? ' It was in this wise. I was
constantly beset with beggars at home, in the road,
the streets, and at my different works ; and my
head being constantly filled with business thoughts
and plans, I found my hand in my pocket, to get
rid of intruders, and this at last happened so
frequently that my pocket needed replenishing
every morning. At last some cases occurred which

. MISPLACED CHARITY. 65

led me to see that I was doing a foolish thing by
indiscriminate charity. On one occasion, I re"
member that I met a blind man, led by another
man of decent appearance. This person stepped up
to me, and said, ' Sir, this poor blind man has
got employment at Liverpool, but has no means
to take him there/ This appeal cost me half a
sovereign. Next day, on my way to town, I saw
the blind man and his companion both so drunk
that they required a large portion of the road to
toddle along. Another case. A woman came
begging, on various pretexts, to one of my works,
so well disguised each time, and with such a
plausible story, that I had no idea but that it was
a different person on each visit. At last she came
one day with one of her legs bound up, and said
she had been discharged from the hospital incurable,
She moved my compassion by describing her suffer-
ings, with floods of tears. While she was there,
one of the warehouse-women came to me, and
said, * Sir, I want to speak to you a minute. This
woman (she said) has been here before in different
disguises ; I am sure she is the same/ So I called
the applicant into a room, and requested the ware-
house-woman to see the state of her leg. The
effect was magical. Down went the leg ; and off
like a shot, went the beggar woman! Another
woman came to beg some wine for a poor creature
who, she said, the doctor declared must die, unless

66 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

some stimulant could be given to her. I ordered
some wine to be supplied. It was received with a
thousand thanks, and assurances that it would save
the poor sufferer's life. I had occasion to go out
directly afterwards; and there was the woman, the
bottle to her mouth — held there closely until it was
empty. Another, and a larger class of applicants
troubled me. These were persons who required
assistance to extend their trade, so as to put them
in positions of comfort and independence. I
advanced a great deal of money in this way ; but
found by experience that the good it did might be
equal to ten per cent, of the money advanced ; and
that much of the remaining ninety per cent,
was wasted — too often in drink and idleness.
These examples-a few out of very many-
put me on thinking that my spare money
might be put to some better uses. I first thought
of almshouses for aged women. * Why/ I asked
myself, * not for men also ? ' but on reflection
I concluded that they were not very well able
to manage for themselves in such places. Then
I thought of the orphans ; and this brought me
to a stand, to consider what to do. Finally, I
thought, * Surely it must be some of each' ; and
having settled it so, I at once drew out a ground
plan for an almshouse and orphanage combined-
for twenty women, and from twenty to thirty
orphans. When the place was built, and occupied,

PLANNING AN ORPHANAGE. 67

the orphans' claims became so numerous and so
pressing that I enlarged the place to make room
for fifty girls ; and more than this it would not
contain/'

This first experiment, however, did not satisfy
Mr. Mason. He desired to have an orphanage on
a much larger scale, with something of a public
character, and under public management. So he
writes— " After turning it over in my mind, I
cama to a wide idea. I said, ' Surely it is possible
to get a society formed of persons who would give
a little time and money for the benefit of orphans V
My own heart said, ' Certainly ; and it will be your
fault if it is not done.' I then thought how I
should set about it. I said to my dear wife, ' I am
now in a fix about this matter ! ' She had
unbounded faith that I could work out anything
for myself, but that if I asked advice I should
surely fail. However, I formed my own plan, that
I should like it done thus — to invite a number of
select persons, out of all religious denominations,
and some who, like myself, belonged to none, and
to put the project before them, to see what
could be done. I spoke about it to one who was
a lover of good deeds: he thought it a grand
project; but, he said, 'you must begin with the
top of the Church first/ So off I started to see
Dr. Miller, who was then Rector of St. Martin's,
the chief parish in Birmingham."

68 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Owing to his habit of retirement, and to his
desire not to be known as a prominent, or even as
a wealthy man, Mr. Mason was acquainted with
very few persons outside of his business connec-
tions. He was not acquainted at all with Dr.
Miller, who would seem up to that time never to
have seen him. He has left in writing a graphic
and characteristic account of the interview, which
took place at St. Martin's, after service : —

" I saw the beadle first, and asked, ' Do you
think I could speak to Dr. Miller this morning V

" ' Can't tell you/ said the official, ' but he's
coming.'

"Then Dr. Miller came in. So I said,
' Doctor, could I speak to you for a minute ? '

" * I am engaged : what is it about ? ' This
was said a little slcV-

" I replied, ' It is a private matter I have to
communicate.'

"On this, with some hesitation — not un-
natural, perhaps, as I was a stranger — he said,
'Well, you may follow me,' and so we went into
the vestry. Taking up the conversation, I said —

" ' The subject, Doctor, I desire to speak to
you about is an orphanage.'

" ' It is a useless waste of time : people are
called upon for so many things, that they can't
take up another; and if they would, this could

A TALK WITH DR. MILLER 69

never be done. But/ he added, ' what may be your
name?'

:t ' Josiah Mason/

:t ' Do you know anything about orphanages ? '

'' ' Yes, I have a small one, of about fifty
girls.

lt 'I have not heard of one ; where may it be?'

" 'At Erdington/

:t 'I had not heard of it. Then what do you
want?'

" ' Well/ I said, ' I have many applications
for the admission of orphans, and it has occurred
to me that Birmingham should have an orphanage
on a large scale, and I have thought whether it might
be possible to get a Committee to work it up — a
committee of all denominations or of no denomina-
tions to join in such a useful work. I have spoken
to one friend on the subject, and he much approved
of it, and advised me first to speak to you.'

" ' It would require a great deal of money/
the Doctor answered, 'and I don't know persons
deeply interested enough to give the help required/

" I said, c I would make a beginning, Doctor,
if you thought it would succeed; but I have
certain ideas about it — namely, that it must not
be a party orphanage/

"The Doctor: 'I don't know that it need
be a party — what do you belong to V

M

70 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

" ' Not any, Doctor; I may be called uni-
versal/ •
€ What ! not belong to any Christian sect ? '
' No, Doctor, I am free/

"The Doctor: 'Well, well; but what about
a donation to start it with — £20 or £50 is not
much in this case. '

" c Plenty of such sums would tell up,
Doctor ; I would give £100,000 to start it !'

" c What ! My dear sir ; why, I could em-
brace you ! ' Then he looked at me up and
down, feeling, no doubt, as if I were scarcely
to be considered in my senses. I went on—

" ' Yes, I would give that sum ; but I have
one little restriction, and only one of consequence
to me/

" The Doctor: ' What may that be ? '

" c That no catechism of any kind be taught
in the orphanage ; that is the only stipulation I
make/

" Doctor Miller could not conceal his surprise
at my proposals. ' But/ he said, 'the amount you
propose to give ; and I never heard of you/

" ' No/ I replied, 'T have always avoided
being known; but you might know something
of me if you connect Elkington with my name/

" Doctor Miller: € Oh ! I know now ! '

"Then it was arranged that a few friends
should be asked to meet together at Dr. Miller's

A MUNIFICENT OFFER. 71

house, and I added, ' But allow me to remind you,
not all Church ; no restriction whatever on matters
of religion. ' "

Shortly after the conversation above re-
corded, a meeting of clergymen, ministers, and
others interested in charitable works — about
twenty people in all — was held at St. Martin's
Eectory, to consider and arrange the scheme of
an orphanage on the basis proposed by Mr. Mason.
The host of the day, Dr. Miller, explained what
Mr. Mason had proposed, and said that Mr.
Mason had made the extraordinary offer of
£100,000 to begin the fund. " I presume/' said
one gentleman present, "that you mean £1,000 ? "
Dr. Miller turned to Mr. Mason to corroborate
his statement. Thus appealed to, Mr. Mason said,
"Yes, I offer £100,000, as Dr. Miller has stated;
but upon the conditions I have already made
known to him." Several meetings were held,
about ten or twelve, but no plan was finally
settled. At the last of these assemblies there
arose an insuperable difficulty, which is described
by Sir Josiah Mason in the notes already men-
tioned : —

" One reverend gentleman said, ' But if you
will not have the Catechism, Mr. Mason, how
do you propose to teach the children religion ?
It is so important that they should be taught

72 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

the Catechism, in order to prepare them for Con-
firmation. '

" For a minute or so, all were dumb ; all eyes
being fixed on me for an answer. I said ' Eeligion
had not occurred to my mind, as I was not a
religious man, according to the views of sect or
party ; but it had that moment come to my mind
that I would teach the children the Holy Scrip-
tures as Timothy was taught ; and that should
be one of the fundamental rules of the place/

" There was again a dead pause. One of the
reverend gentlemen said that ' he could not sub-
scribe even a half-sovereign unless the Catechism
was taught/ Others said ' Mr. Mason's views were
the right views to take of the matter/ and that
I had pointed out all that was needful about
religious teaching.

" Some discussion then occurred about the
class of children whom I would receive ; whether
orphans of the respectable class should be mixed
up with what was called the gutter class. To
this I answered that ' I have never thought of
class. I have been looking only at destitution
without a friend. I cannot see any difference
between the classes, both being destitute. No
doubt the gutter children would require training
until they were on a level with the rest; but I
object to class.'

> »

A RELIGIOUS HINDRANCE. 73

The difficulties and differences of opinion
thus disclosed proved fatal to the project. "The
Church," writes Sir Josiah, " discovered endless
hindrances ; she could not do without her Cate-
chism. This ended the labours of many who
were willing to give time and money to the
object. More than one high Churchman came to
me privately, and spent much time in trying to
convince me that I took too strong a view of
the Catechism. Dr. Miller, also, sent for me, and
had a long interview, to see if he could not
chime the Catechism into my obstinate head ; but
he failed. His heart was in the work, and he
would have given time and help in any way that
he could ; but Churchmanship was too strong."

Perhaps, on the whole, it was quite as well
that this project came to nothing. The establish-
ment and management of an orphanage on a
purely unsectarian basis would have been a work
of great difficulty, especially if, as was proposed,
representatives of all denominations had been
united in the management. As Sir Josiah Mason's
experience proved, it is easier for one person to
arrange such an establishment in his own way,
acting independently, than if he were trammelled
by the control, or even by the advice of a
committee. Being unwilling to abandon his
project, Mr. Mason now determined to work it
out for and by himself. He chose a suitable site

10

74 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

at Erdington for the building, laid out his plans,
obtained a design from Mr. Botham, a well-known
and competent architect in Birmingham, and then,
in the year 1865, he quietly began the construc-
tion of the Orphanage, without the least public
display, and almost without a word. There was
not indeed so much as a paragraph in a news-
paper ; a degree of privacy which suited Mr.
Mason exactly, for it gave him the opportunity
of working out his own plans without observation.
For a long time the building went on without
attracting notice. By degrees the lofty towers
began to rise above the surrounding landscape,
and as the site is on high ground, these, and
the general mass of the building were seen from
long distances. Then enquiry began to be made
as to the character and purpose of the great
edifice. Still Mr. Mason held his peace, quietly
pursuing the double work of constructing his
building and of preparing the trust deed of his
foundation. The former was, to him, a perfect
labour of love. Day and night, almost, the
Orphanage occupied his mind; improvements
of plan continually suggested themselves, new
arrangements for the health and comfort of the
children, additions to the external design, to make
it worthy of its noble purpose. All these, in turn,
were matured, resolved upon, and executed, with
promptitude and care, and without thought of cost.

ORPHANAGE AT ERDINGTON. 75

The object of the Founder was to construct what
should be as nearly as possible a perfect building —
strong, durable, ample in accommodation, orna-
mental in character ; one that should last for
generations, and be found throughout adequate to
its designed purpose. This he thoroughly accom-
plished, for the Orphanage is one of the stateliest,
best arranged, and most solidly built of the class of
institutions to which it belongs — an ornament to
the neighbourhood in which it stands, and a
worthy memorial of its Founder : as noble a monu-
ment, indeed, as any man could desire.

The preparation of the Trust Deed was a
matter of extreme difficulty, inasmuch as it was
necessary to combine at once the fixity of the trust,
in all fundamental particulars, and yet to allow of
sufficient elasticity to adapt it to the changing
circumstances of generations to come. The extent
and the mixed nature of the property to be dealt
with as the endowment, also constituted no incon-
siderable difficulty; and the constitution of the
trust had to be considered with great care, so
as to ensure sufficient variety, to impress it with a
permanent and representative character, to secure
due attention from the trustees themselves, and to
preserve unimpaired, and as an unalterable con-
dition, the purely unsectarian nature of the
foundation. The preparation of the deed, to give
effect to these views, was commenced by the late

76 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

Mr. Palmer, of Birmingham, who was then, and for
many years had been, Mr. Mason's confidential
solicitor, adviser, and personal friend. At Mr.
Palmer's death, however, the work was very little
advanced. Fortunately, it was then entrusted
to Mr. G. J. Johnson, who succeeded to the
confidential relationship formerly existing between
Mr. Palmer and Mr. Mason. By this gentleman
the deed was completed. To satisfy the require-
ments of the Mortmain Act, it had to be enrolled
twelve months during the life of the Founder, or
otherwise it could not take effect. To meet the
possibility of the Founder's death during this legal
interval, a will was prepared, devising all the
estates constituting the Orphanage Endowment to
Mr. Eobert Lucas Chance, an eminent citizen of
Birmingham. In case of Mr. Mason's death a
letter would have been delivered to Mr. Chance
informing him of the object of the gift, which
it would have been entirely optional with him
to carry into effect or not. The gift and the
letter were only known to two persons, Mr. Mason
and Mr. Johnson, until the twelve months
expired, when Mr. Chance had the pleasure
of being informed of the confidence reposed in
him. At the completion of the legal year,
on the 31st of July, 1869, Mr. Mason enjoyed
the unalloyed pleasure of formally opening his
noble foundation, by presiding over the first

THE ORPHANAGE BUILDING. 77

meeting of the Trustees. He would permit no
ceremony. As the work had been quietly, and
even privately conceived, matured, and executed,
so the institution was opened without ostentation ;
and the first detailed information the public had of
the magnificent scheme — its conception and accom-
plishment — was contained in the following article,
which, with Mr. Mason's sanction, the writer
of this Memoir had the privilege of contributing
to the Birmingham Daily Post of the 2nd of
August, 1869 : —

A great work is best described in the simplest language.
Therefore, without preface, we say that last Saturday witnessed
the completion and dedication of one of the noblest works of
charity in our time, or perhaps in any time — the transfer to the
appointed trustees of Josiah Mason's Almshouses and Orphan-
age, at Erdington, near Birmingham. By the desire of the
Founder, a man of simple character and retiring habits, the
event was quite unmarked by ceremony. There was just a
quiet meeting of half a dozen gentlemen, the first trustees, at.
Mr. Mason's house, at Erdington. A stranger might have
supposed that some routine business was in course of transac-
tion — the administration, may be, of a charitable institution of
an ordinary kind. Yet, in truth, the occasion was one of
surpassing and unprecedented interest — for at that quiet meet-
ing a stately building, valued at £60,000, and a more than
princely endowment, estimated at £200,000, the free and
wholly unaided gift of one generous and large-hearted man,
passed from private hands, and became the heritage of the
orphan arid the poor, for ever.

We said just now, that a great deed is best described in
simple terms. This brief record justifies the remark. No
flourish of rhetoric or artifice of language could set forth the
grandeur of this donation with half the eloquence of the
unadorned statement that a single man — a Birmingham manu-

78 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

facturer, known in person to but few of his townsmen, and
desiring to be known only by his works — has during his life-
time freely given the magnificent sum of more than a quarter of
a million for the establishment of a vast educational charity.
Such uses of wealth at once justify and consecrate wealth.
Henceforth, the name of Josiah Mason will stand beside that
of George Peabody — the two being linked together as those of
men keeping in mind the Divine injunction, "The poor ye
have always with you ; " and with this remembering themselves
not as owners but stewards of the means with which Providence
had endowed them. There is a curious parallelism between the
two benefactions — each equalling the other in amount, both
given by men who, beginning very humbly, had grown rich by
industry and enterprise 'in trade, both directed towards the
relief of present distress, and the future elevation of the working
class. The resemblance between the two may be carried yet
further, for both these great benefactors were born in the same
year, in the same month, and within a few days of each other —
Mr. Peabody, on the 18th of February, 1795, and Mr. Mason
on the 23rd of February, in the same year. Here, however,
the parallel diverges a little, for while Mr. Peabody's munificent
gifts to the poor of London were presented to trustees for them
to arrange a scheme of application, Mr. Mason's noble work is
wholly his own, down to the smallest detail ; the arrangement
of the building, the provisions of the trust, and the complete
organisation of the charity having occupied his mind for years.
In a word, this noble gift — an honour to humanity, and a glory
for the town to which the donor belongs — is in all its parts,
plan, design, detail, and means of sustenance, the work of a
single man and a single mind. Without asking or receiving
help of any kind, Mr. Mason gives to trustees, and through
them to the public, a set of Almshouses for twenty-six women,
an Orphanage for three hundred children, finished in building
and arrangement, with plans of management laid down carefully
throughout and perfected, both charities in full working order,
and actually at work ; and to crown all, with an endowment in
land, so well chosen as to promise rapid growth in value with
each successive year, and so ample as to shut out for ever the
need of an appeal for other help. This admirable completeness

THE ORPHANAGE BUILDING. 79

appears to us to be one of the noblest features of the plan. Of
course, only a man of great wealth could have done his work in
this way ; but many men of wealth, even when embarked in
such a design, would have stumbled at the enormous cost of it,
and have shrunk from the sacrifices required to make it
complete. But Mr. Mason's motto is " Thorough ! " Mean-
ing that these Almshouses and this Orphanage should be
" Josiah Mason's Almshouses and Orphanage," he counted the
cost and paid it, resolving that in all respects, both of payment
and of plan, the work should be his own.

Those who have had the pleasure of talking with Mr.
Mason about his work, are well aware, however, that no
thought of self, and no thirst for praise, have entered his
mind. To use his own words, he has done this simply because
he always felt that he ought to do something for the aged or
for the children ; and this thought of years gradually shaped
itself into the double form it has now assumed. It has literally
been the work of years. So far back as 1858, Mr. Mason
began an orphanage and a set of almshouses on a small scale,
intending first to receive twenty-five children, and then ex-
tending the number to fifty. This building — now converted
into residences for twenty-six aged women — is situated in the
village of Erdington, partly in the main road and partly in
Sheep Street, leading to the railway station on the Sutton
Coldfield line. No sooner was the smaller orphanage com-
pleted, than Mr. Mason found that his plans had fallen far
short of his desires. He resolved to build another orphanage, to
receive 100 children, and this he thought could be erected
and endowed for about £100,000. Then, thinking the matter
over again, the design expanded itself into a building for 200
children. Even now, however, the large-hearted benevolence
of the donor was unsatisfied. A third time the plan was
carefully reconsidered, the result being that Mr. Mason finally
decided upon erecting a building capable of easily receiving
300 children — it would hold 500 according to the Privy
Council measurement — and upon endowing it with landed
estates sufficient to discharge every claim that could by
possibility fall upon the trust. This resolution was taken in
1860, and in the quietest manner, without demonstration of

80 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

any kind, indeed without the knowledge of a single person
but those immediately concerned, the present magnificent
building was commenced. Substantially, the edifice was
finished about two years ago, and Mr. Mason then began to
gather into it the poor orphans for whom it was designed.
But other internal work had to be done before the place
could be said to be completed, and the trust deed — in itself
an affair of no little magnitude — had to be settled. Even
when this was accomplished, it was necessary, under the
Statute of Mortmain, that a year should elapse after the
signature of the deed, before the munificent gift could take
legal effect. This period expired on Saturday last, and then,
at the first meeting of trustees, Mr. Mason was enabled to
enjoy the satisfaction of seeing his great work complete, and
finally and for ever dedicated to the public. He is to be
not less congratulated than envied, for surely no purer or
nobler pleasure could be within the reach of man.

Having thus briefly sketched the broad design and cir-
cumstances of this great work, we proceed to give some
account of it in detail — taking first the constitution and
government of the charity ; next the endowment ; and lastly
describing the building itself.

The constitution of the Orphanage Trust is set forth in
an elaborate deed, occupying not less than sixty-three printed
octavo pages. The first draft of the deed was prepared by the
late Mr. William Palmer, under the advice and assistance of
Mr. J. B. Braithwaite, of Lincoln's Inn. On Mr. Palmer's
death the deed was taken up and completed by Mr. G. J.
Johnson, of the firm of Tyndall, Johnson, and Tyndall. Half
the deed is occupied with a description of the numerous
landed and building estates which from the endowment of
the charity — the whole, at we have mentioned, being valued
at ,£200,000, exclusive of the £60,000 spent upon the buildings
— and then follow the provisions made for the administration
of this vast endowment.

The purposes of the trust are two-fold. First, the original
and smaller building in Sheep Street, Erdington, is to be
maintained as almshouses for twenty-six women, either widows
or unmarried, at the discretion of the trustees, and not under

ORPHANAGE TRUST DEED. 81

the age of fifty years. Each inmate is provided with a
furnished house, coal, gas, and other advantages, and a sum
of money is allotted to he distributed annually amongst them,
as the trustees may think proper. The only restriction upon
this part of the trust is that the number of inmates in the
almshouses shall never exceed twenty-six, and that no part
of the funds shall be laid out in the erection of other' alms-
houses. The trustees have the power of dismissing inmates,
in case of misconduct ; but during the lifetime of the Founder
this power, and also a power of general management, both of
the Almshouses and the Orphanage, is reserved to himself,
and veiy justly so, for no man would willingly divest him-
self of the privilege of superintending such an excellent
work, so long as health and strength remained to him to
undertake it.

As regards the major object of the trust — the Orphanage
— the deed provides that the number of boys and girls to be
admitted shall be such as the trustees may from time to time
consider the asylum capable of accommodating, "yet so that
the number of boys shall never exceed one-half the number
of girls for the time being inmates therein." Only one con-
dition is assigned as the qualification for admission — namely,
that " every child shall be of or under the age of nine years,
the legitimate child of poor parents, both then dead." Beyond
this, there is no restriction whatever, whether of locality,
condition, country, or religious persuasion ; in all these
respects the charity is as wide-reaching as Benevolence itself,
and as free as air. It is further provided that in urgent
and special cases, never to exceed one in ten of the number
of inmates, the trustees may admit children up to the age of
twelve years, " provided that no child shall be admitted under
this clause who is not, in the judgment of the trustees,
qualified, both by literary attainments and style of conduct
and behaviour, to take a place at least equal to that taken
upon the average by the children of his or her own age, for
the time being in the institution, and who shall not be in other
respects eligible for admission." Children admitted may
remain in the Orphanage, if boys, until they are fourteen,
and if girls until they are eighteen years of age; but, under

11

82 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

special circumstances, boys may remain twelve months longer,
and girls willing to enter into service at the Orphanage
" with the bond fide intention of becoming teachers, nurses,
or assistants, either in the Orphanage or in other like
institutions," may remain so long as the trustees may think
necessary. The trustees are invested with authority to dismiss
children for disobedience, misconduct, or other reasonable
cause, and may also, when in their judgment "the relatives
or friends of any child shall be able to provide for him or
her, give up such child to such relatives or friend."

For the care and instruction of the children provision is
made in the following clauses, which we quote from the deed
without abridgment, as they clearly and fully express the
mind of the Founder, both as to the scope of the institution,
and as to the entirely free and unsectarian character which
he desires permanently to impress upon it:-

" The children who are admitted into the Orphanage shall
be lodged, clothed, fed, maintained, educated, and brought up
gratuitously at the exclusive cost of the Orphanage income.

"Proper arrangements shall be made by the trustees for
the instruction of the children, having due regard to their
respective ages and capacities in reading, writing, spelling,
English grammar, arithmetic, geography, and history, and such
other objects of general and useful knowledge as may be, from
time to time, directed or authorised by the trustees, subject to
the condition, which the said Josiah Mason doth hereby declare
to be fundamental, that no instruction in any language or
grammar other than the English language and the English
grammar shall be given to the children in the said Orphanage.

"And it is hereby declared to be the express wish and
direction of the Founder, that all the children shall be brought
up in habits of industry, and that, as far as practicable, the
girls be instructed in sewing, baking, cooking, washing,
mangling, and in all ordinary household and domestic duties,
and in other useful knowledge, with a view to their being
fitted to become useful members of society in those positions
in life to which it may please God to call them, and which
He may give them talents worthily to fulfil.

ORPHANAGE TRUST DEED. 83

"And, under the deep conviction that the fear of
Almighty God is the beginning of all true wisdom, the said
Josiah Mason doth hereby declare it to be his special desire
and direction that the children shall be carefully instructed
in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and taught to love,
reverence, and obey the doctrines and precepts therein
graciously revealed, and, through the Divine blessing upon
the labours of those engaged in their instruction, the words
of the Apostle may be addressed with truth to every child
who shall have been brought up in the Orphanage, ' From a
child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in
Christ Jesus ; ' provided always, that all the religious instruc-
tion given in the Orphanage shall be confined to the Holy
Scriptures in the authorised English version, and to the
truths therein contained, and that no catechisms, formularies,
or articles of faith, whether of the United Church of England
and Ireland, as by law established, or of any other body of
professing Christians, shall be taught to the children.

"The trustees shall make such provision as they shall,
from time to time, think fit for the assembling of the
children for Divine worship in the institution, having regard,
as far as practicable, to the earnest desire of the Founder,
that the children may be trained up as simple and sincere
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, without reference to
sectarian distinctions and prejudices ; and it is hereby
declared that the trustees shall, out of the income of the
Orphanage, expend such sum as shall, from time to time, be,
in their judgment, necessary to provide for each orphan, on
leaving the asylum, a sufficient outfit in clothes, in the
discretion of the said trustees, together with a Bible, and the
said trustees may also pay such sum as an apprentice fee as
they may, in their discretion, think fit."

At present there are 150 orphans in the asylum, of
whom 40 are boys. Their ages range from about two years
and a half upwards. The establishment consists of a matron,
Miss Stockwin, a sub-matron (her sister, Miss Ann Stockwin),
a schoolmaster and drillmaster, the elder girls acting as
monitresses, a sewing mistress, and an out-door mistress.

84 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Great stress is laid upon the physical training of the children,
and upon the industrial education of the girls, who do all the
housework. The school teaching is explained in the extract
already given from the trust deed ; and we may add that Mr.
Mason most earnestly desires to put this part of the school
under Government inspection — though he does not desire
Government grants ; but he is hindered by an absurd rule of
"the Department," which excludes boarding and feeding
schools from the benefit of inspection. The health of the
children is placed under the care of two homoeopathic prac-
titioners — Mr. Mason has for many years been a disciple
of Hahnemann — namely, Dr. Gibbs Blake and Mr. Wynne
Thomas, both of Birmingham. The religious services in the
chapel are conducted at present by the Wesleyan Methodists,
and provision is made for any residents in the neighbourhood
who desire to attend, a special gallery, holding two hundred
persons, being allotted to them. We should mention that
the friends of the children are allowed to visit them twice a
year, when, Mr. Mason tells us, the place is "like a fair"
with the gifts of toys and the numbers of visitors. Friends
are also permitted to visit at other times, on obtaining a
written order.

The administration of the trust, and the management of
the Orphanage and of the estates belonging to it, are vested in a
body of trustees, who are always to be laymen and Protestants,
and any trustee, whether appointed by the Founder or
afterwards elected, is declared to be incapacitated in case he
shall cease to be a layman or a Protestant, or in case he should
become bankrupt or insolvent, or shall cease to reside within
ten miles of the Orphanage, or shall fail to attend three
successive general meetings of trustees. Power is also given to
dismiss a trustee in case he should be " guilty of some grave
moral delinquency, or'some gross breach of propriety," rendering
him, in the judgment of his fellows, unfit to be continued as a
trustee. The trustees are to hold annual meetings, at which
they are required to appoint a Bailiff (or Chairman) and a
Secretary, to whom — excepting the case of the Founder —
salaries may be allowed for their services, out of the trust funds.
They are also to appoint a Committee of Management. It is

CHOICE OF TRUSTEES. 85

provided that during his lifetime, Mr. Mason, the Founder, shall
act as Visitor of the Charity, and, if he pleases, as Bailiff, hut
without salary, and power is conferred upon him to appoint aud
dismiss persons employed upon the charity, to vary the trustees,
and to alter the regulations of the institution at his pleasure,
always with the restriction that he must act in accordance with
the general tenour and provisions of the trust deed.

The present numher of trustees is fixed at seven — namely,
Mr. Frederick Allen, jeweller ; Mr. William Bach, mercer ; Mr.
William Fothergill Batho, engineer ; Mr. James Gibbs Blake,
doctor of medicine ; Mr. Isaac Horton, provision merchant ; Mr.
Thomas Shaw, bank manager, all of Birmingham ; and Mr.
John Christopher Yeomans, of Erdington, gentleman. These,
with the Founder, constitute the first and present Board of
Management, and in the seven trustees the whole property and
endowments of the Orphanage are vested. After the death of
the Founder, the number of trustees is never to be less than ten
or more than fourteen, of whom seven are always to be
nominated by the Town Council of Birmingham. With regard
to this appointment the deed provides that within one week of
the death of the Founder, the trustees shall give notice thereof
to the Town Council of Birmingham, and within two months
from that date the Town Council shall elect seven official
trustees, who must be laymen and Protestants, and who may be
either members of the Council or may be chosen from persons
outside that body. The Council are always to keep up this
number of seven trustees by election as vacancies arise, and any
vacancies occurring in the other, or ordinary, trustees are to be
filled up by the general body. Practically, therefore, the
Orphanage and its endowments will ultimately constitute a gift
to the Corporation of Birmingham, out of wealth accumulated
through the trade and commerce of the town. Finally, the
deed provides that during the life of the Founder, with his
consent, or after his decease, at the discretion of the trustees,
application may be made for a Eoyal Charter, or a special Act
of Parliament, incorporating the Trust, "under the name or
style of Josiah Mason's Orphanage and Almshouses Trustees."

We come next to the endowments of the charity, and
it is now that the magnitude of Mr. Mason's benefaction

86 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

becomes clearly apparent. The endowments consist wholly
of land, on such a scale that the recital or description of
the various properties occupies not less than twenty -five
closely-printed pages of the deed. A considerable portion of
the land is in or near the village of Erdington, and it is
most interesting to note that this part of the gift actually
includes Mr. Mason's own residence, Norwood House, with
its grounds and gardens occupying about thirteen acres —
so that the Founder himself became on Saturday last, and
will continue to be, a tenant of the orphans whom his muni-
ficence has endowed. Another part of the endowment consists
of Tyburn Farm, containing 102 acres, let for 120 years at
£600 a year. Altogether, in Erdington the endowment
includes about 220 acres of land, much of it occupied by
valuable building properties, and all of it likely soon to be
required for building land, which, from its closeness to Bir-
mingham, must become of great value. An idea of the worth
of the property in this neighbourhood may be gathered from
the fact that a very few years ago Mr. Mason purchased a
quantity of land (included in the endowment), at little more
than £120 an acre; and that, desiring to complete an estate
for the purpose of the Orphanage, he had last year to give,
for adjoining land, not less than £500 an acre. In addition
to the Erdington land, the endowment comprises Nonsuch
Farm, at Northfield, rather more than 80 acres ; Warkworth
and Headless Cross Farms, and other properties at Fecken-
ham, 297 acres ; the Chapel Fields estate, at BickenhiJl, 96
acres ; the manor and priory of Pinley, in the parishes of
Claverdon, Eowington, and Hatton, 124 acres; Walmley Ash
Farm, in the parish of Sutton Coldfield, 141 acres; and about
fifty acres of other lands in Curdworth and Minworth.
Altogether these properties, the whole of them freehold and
of an improving kind, and some of them already extremely
valuable for building purposes, embrace not less than 1,026
acres. But we have not yet completed the recital of this
magnificent charity. Besides the 1,026 acres already mentioned
the endowment includes one acre, three roods and twenty-
six perches — nearly two acres — of freehold land in Birmingham
itself, situated in Broad Street, Bridge Street, Great Hampton

THE ORPHANAGE PROPERTY. 87

Street, Snow Hill, and Summer Lane. Nearly the whole of
this property is covered with valuable buildings producing
large rents, and rapidly increasing in value. Indeed, ouly
those who are acquainted with the high price of building
land in the heart of Birmingham can form an idea of the
immediate value and probable resources of such a property
as this. There are yet, however, some additions to be made
before we can complete the rent-roll of Josiah Mason's
Orphanage. Two houses and shops in New Street, facing
Worcester Street — the very best part of the town — are included
in the endowment ; and the list is closed by the newly-erected
property in High Street, facing the Market Hall, and running
back to Moor Street, which alone is let on a lease for 120
years, at the annual rental of £1,509. These two last-named
properties, it should be mentioned, are additional to the two
acres of Birmingham land. Taken together they probably raise
the land in Birmingham to a total of two acres and a half. Of
the income yielded by the endowments, we are not in position
to speak with certainty. The total value, as we have mentioned,
is not less than £200,000, and it is probable that the income
is very little, if at all, below £10,000. In a few years, as the
properties improve, and the land near Birmingham comes into
use for building, this income will most likely be doubled in
amount ; and with this expectation provision is made in the
trust deed for the acquisition of other properties out of the
surplus funds, and for the erection of other charitable institu-
tions within scope of the trust.

The reader who has followed this narrative so far will
now desire to learn something of the noble building which,
with its inmates, forms, so to speak, the centre and kernel
of the trust ; and upon which the Founder has lavished years
of patient labour — always close and onerous, demanding in-
cessant thought and unremitting attention, but sweetened from
first to last by the sense of doing good, and animated by
the desire that his work should be made as perfect as human
hands could make it. The Orphanage stands fronting to Bell
Lane, a little way behind the Birmingham and Lichfield
turnpike road, at Erdington. It occupies, with play-grounds,
plantations, garden ground, and fields, about thirteen acres

88 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

of land, lying high upon a gravelly soil, well open on all sides,
and commanding fine views of the surrounding country, from
which the great central tower, 200 feet high, may be seen
for many miles. The building, which is bold and massive
in general form, is skilfully broken up in detail, so as to
relieve it from any traces of the baldness which often
characterises extensive frontages involving much repetition
of forms. The character of the design is Lombardic, varied
so as to suit modern requirements. The plan is that of an
irregular oblong, presenting a length of 207 feet at the
north-west or entrance front in Bell Lane ; 190 feet to the
north-east or play-ground front ; 300 feet to the east or garden
side; and 270 feet to the west side, where the out-offices
are placed. This vast mass, which is divided into three
storeys, well marked out, is pierced by lines of semi-circular
headed windows, with enriched columns or shafts and heads,
each window being flanked by shallow buttresses, and each
front being finished with carved mouldings or string-courses
in stone. The gabled ends of the building project slightly,
and in these the windows (crowned with sunk arches, pierced
with enriched rose windows) are somewhat more boldly
treated than the rest, and with excellent effect. Each gable
is finished with a colossal figure of an angel standing with
folded wings, as if watching over the happiness of the children
below. These figures and the numerous other carved enrich-
ments (most of them in some way symbolical of charity or of
infancy) are admirably executed. The long lines of roof are
picturesquely broken by dormer windows, gabled, and of large
size, to give light to the sleeping rooms ; and over the roofs
three boldly designed towers rise to irregular heights. The
principal tower, near the centre of the building, is 200 feet
high, divided into three stages, and surmounted with a high-
pitched roof, crested with an open metal railing, and bearing
a lofty flag-staff. The enclosed centre of this structure is used
as a shaft to carry off the heated air from the building, but by a
series of staircases, provision is made for ascending to the
gallery at the top. Over the entrance in Bell Lane is another
tower, of about 120 feet high, covered with a high-pitched roof;
and a third tower, 110 feet high, serves as a chimney-shaft,

ARRANGEMENT OF ORPHANAGE. 89

into which all the smoke-flues of the building are made to
discharge their contents, there being otherwise neither fire-
place nor chimney throughout the edifice, but all the heating
being done by pipes containing hot water, and the cooking,
washing, and drying by steam. Two features of the elevation
require to be noticed. One is an exquisite little porch,
leading to an arcade through which access is obtained to the
main entrance corridor. The other is a massive rusticated
arcade, supporting the play-ground front, and itself forming
a covered play-ground 174 feet long by 25 feet wide. The
materials of the building are bricks (of which about three
millions were used, all of them made upon the Orphanage land),
with massive dressings and enrichments of Tower Hill stone
for the basement, and Derbyshire and Shrewsbury stone for
the mouldings, string-courses, buttresses, and windows. The
elevation and main plans were designed by Mr. J. E. Botham,
architect, of Birmingham, to whom they do very great credit ;
but owing to circumstances of a private nature, Mr. Botham
retired at an early period from the superintendence of the
work, and the building was then conducted, and the whole
of the interior arrangements were designed and carried out
by Mr. Mason himself, the result of his ingenuity and skill
being apparent in every part, even in the minutest detail.
The cost of the building, as we have already mentioned, was
about £60,000, as nearly as can be ascertained; for Mr.
Mason confesses that when the clerk of the works reported
an expenditure of £50,000, he grew somewhat careless about
keeping accounts, although a good deal of the interior work,
all the furnishing, and the laying out of the grounds, still
remained to be done.

The plan of the interior arrangements is very simple.
Access is gained from Bell Lane by the porch already noted,
which leads to a lofty corridor, 155 feet by 9. At the
end of this, and turning at a right angle to it, is a second
corridor, 121 feet by 6, giving access to offices and staircases,
and to various rooms in the south-east front. On the left-
hand side of the main corridor is a large and handsome
chapel, plainly fitted up with open benches. Beyond is a
range of windows, looking into an enclosed courtyard, and

12

90 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

commanding a picturesque view of a further court and of the
main tower. On the opposite, or right-hand side of the
corridor, is a room (37 by 30) for visitors to the children, a
board-room for the trustees, and other departments, including
the private room of the matron. At the end of the corridor
are a sewing room (20 by 30) and a music and drill room
(30 by 37). Turning along the small corridor, we come to a
dining room for the matron and teachers, a servants' hall, an
infants' dining room (for there are a good many very little
ones in the Orphanage), and then the main dining hall, 70
feet by 23 feet, fitted with massive tables, and with a separate
seat for each child. Near this apartment are the girls' cloak
room, pantries, store-rooms, and other offices, all of ample
size and most conveniently arranged and fitted. Opposite
the door of the dining hall is the kitchen, a superb room, 62
feet by 30, well lighted, lofty in proportion, and as clean as
a pink. All the cooking, it should be noted, is done by
steam, on a most ingenious plan devised by Mr. Mason him-
self, especially for the Orphanage. Underneath, in the base-
ment, is the oven for baking bread, of which, we need scarcely
say, a large supply is wanted. This oven is also of Mr.
Mason's invention, and is so constructed as with one firing to
retain its heat for several days together, to the great economy
of fuel. Opposite the kitchen, but divided from it by an open
passage (so that no smell can escape) is the laundry (38 by
30), fitted with all kinds of labour-saving contrivances; and
having a series of very skilfully contrived steam drying
closets. The whole of the steam required for these purposes,
and the hot water for warming the entire building, through
about 1,000 feet of 4-inch piping, is supplied by one small
boiler, with which is connected an engine for pumpiiig water,
hot and cold, to each floor of the building. Underneath the
basement is a rain-water cistern, 6 feet deep, and measuring
62 feet by 13 feet.

Ascending by a broad and handsome staircase to the
first floor, we find the general arrangement of plan similar
to that on the ground floor — the corridors corresponding, and
the rooms leading out of them to the several parts of the
building. Amongst the principal are play-rooms for boys

ARRANGEMENT OF ORPHANAGE. 91

and girls — the former 94 feet by 16, and the latter 37 feet
by 30 ; a school-room 70 feet by 23 ; three class-rooms,
each 23 feet by 18 ; and thirteen small rooms allotted to
various purposes. In addition to these are separate lavatories
for boys and girls, each 63 feet by 15, and so arranged that
each child has its own washing place, towel, and other
appliances. Adjoining these is the wardrobe, fitted with
separate hooks and places for the clothes of each child ;
and the bath-room, a lofty apartment, 38 feet by 30, supplied
with an ample number of baths, and with hot water, con-
tained in three iron cisterns, cylinder-shaped, and measuring
10 feet high, by 2 feet 6 inches diameter. Cold water is
obtained from a tank 53 feet long by 4 feet wide and 2 deep.
An important feature of the arrangements on this floor is
the infirmary, which occupies a space in the entrance
front — 47 feet by 30 feet — is capable of being shut off
from the rest of the building, and has special means of
heating and ventilation. Close to the infirmary is a con-
valescent-room, 66 feet by 20 feet, and having a very pleasant
look-out, enough in itself to bring the sick children round to
renewed health. The dormitories are situated upon the second
floor, the whole of which is occupied by them. There are
three for boys, the largest measuring 72 feet by 30, and the
smaller ones each 23 by 18. For girls there are six dormi-
tories, measuring 94 feet by 34 — the largest — down to 20 feet
by 15 feet, the smallest. All these rooms are very lofty and
well ventilated. The two divisions are so arranged as to be
capable of complete separation from each other; and in each
division there are sleeping-rooms for teachers or attendants,
who have charge of the children during the night. Each child
has a separate bed, and all the appointments are kept beauti-
fully clean.

With other details we need not trouble the reader, contenting
ourselves with saying generally that the Orphanage throughout
is wonderfully well arranged and admirably built — strong,
sound, and solid, with ornament enough to make it attractive,
yet with use and comfort never sacrificed to ornament. The
ventilation, again, is perfect, every room is fresh and sweet, and
an abundant supply of pure warm air passes constantly through

92 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

all parts of the house. This, and numberless other arrange-
ments, as we have said, are due to Mr. Mason himself, who is
full of mechanical skill and practical scientific knowledge. One
great difficulty of such institutions he appears to have solved —
the latrines. At first water-closets were used, but these became
offensive, and the whole of them were cleared away, their places
being supplied by a system of dry closets, depositing their
contents in a large vault near the engine-house, and closed
externally with iron doors. Over the surface of the vault a
quantity of fine ashes from the boiler fire are spread twice daily,
in a thin layer, and the contents of the vault are thus perfectly
deodorised, besides being rendered most valuable as manure.
The waste water from the house is, of course, allowed to flow
direct into the drains. When we saw the place, in one of the
hottest days of July, not the faintest odour was perceptible.

Before closing this notice, we must say that there is one
point — and this is a most important one — which the fullest
description would fail to bring out. It is the tender thought-
fulness and loving care manifested in all respects for the comfort
and happiness of the children. If Mr. Mason had been con-
triving a house for children of his own, he could not have
studied the wants and habits of the little ones more closely, or
thought out each detail with greater pains than he has done for
these poor orphans. Abundant evidence of this appeals to the
visitor, however careless he may be. Not only may the pro-
vision of separate beds and washing appliances be cited in proof
of our remark, but there are also the arrangements of the bath-
room, in which the physical comfort of the very little ones is
especially studied, and the covered play-ground with its triple
columns, erected not for the requirements of strength, but with
a particular eye to the pastime of hide-and-seek. The same
thoughtfulness is apparent in the flowers arranged along the
main corridor, in the separate seats in the dining hall, in the
carefully sloped backs of the chapel benches, in the provision of
musical instruments, and in many other ways readily to be
noted by those who love children and know their ways. Then,
again, the little ones have their infantine toys, the bigger ones
amusements suited to maturer age, and for sturdy lads and lasses
there are swings and gymnastic apparatus in the ample open

ALMSHOUSES AT ERDINGTON. 93

play-ground, looking out freshly into the fields. One thing
more is too pleasant to be omitted — namely, that the Founder
knows all the children in the noble home he has provided, that
he is known and loved by them, that the infants trot up to
him and put their tiny hands in his, that the elder ones
brighten at his approach, that he has a kindly word and
fatherly look for one and all, and last, but not least, that his
own benevolent spirit seems to have passed into the minds of
the attendants from highest to lowest, making the whole place
what the Founder desires it to be, a Home for those who are
homeless, a Family circle for those who have lost their natural
protectors. May God bless such a work as this, and bless, too,
the man who has done it !

The Orphanage at Erdington is connected, both
by locality, and by its trust deed, with another
charitable institution founded by Sir Josiah Mason.
This is the Almshouses for Aged Women, already
mentioned as having been the site of the original
orphanage. The almshouses are situated in Bell
Lane, to which the principal front is presented,
with another frontage to the main road leading
from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield. The build-
ing, which is large and imposing in appearance, is
of Gothic design : it consists of two gabled wings,
with a central tower, and is screened along the
principal front by a low wall, pierced with a
handsome arched gateway. This gives entrance to
a courtyard, from which we enter the building.
Access is first obtained to the central hall, a finely-
proportioned room 40 feet by 23 feet 6 inches,
rising to a height of 40 feet at the centre of the
open timber roof. It is lighted by a large window

94 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

over the doorway, and by two lancet windows on
each, side, giving views along the corridors extend-
ing from one end of the building to the other.
From these corridors — one on the ground floor and
one upon the upper floor — access is obtained to the
rooms allotted to the inmates of the almshouses.
In the old almshouses there were twenty sets of
rooms ; in the building, as now arranged, there are
thirty-one. Each inmate has her separate room,
which serves for living and sleeping, and in each
room there is a closet for stores, with other
necessary appliances. The rooms are furnished in
a comfortable manner out of the funds of the trust,
and allowances are made for a matron and sub-
matron, and to other inmates for doing the domestic
work of the establishment. The rooms are about
14 feet by 11, and are 9 feet high. In conjunction
with the almshouses is a home for servants who
have been sent out from the Orphanage, and who
may be temporarily disabled, or may need a place
of residence while seeking new situations. Provi-
sion is made for twelve persons in this department.
There is a common sitting-room, a kitchen, store-
rooms for boxes, &c, and a large, well-lighted, and
thoroughly- ventilated dormitory. The land at the
back of the almshouses is laid out as a pleasant
little garden.

CHAPTER VI.

The Mason Science College.

We now come to the third, and, in its probable
results, the greatest of Sir Josiah Mason's founda-
tions — the Science College, in Edmund Street,
Birmingham, of which, on the 23rd of February,
1875, the Founder laid the first stone, on the
occasion of his eightieth birthday, in the presence of
the Trustees and a number of gentlemen represent-
ing the Corporation of Birmingham and the
principal societies and public bodies concerned in
the promotion of literature, science, and art, and in
conducting the higher education of the town. The
attendance included the heads of the Corporation,
representatives of the Magistrates, the Midland
Institute, the Queen's College, the Free Grammar
School, the Corporation Free Libraries, the Birming-
ham Library (founded nearly a century ago by Dr.
Priestley), the School Board, the Royal Society of
Artists, the Fellows of the Royal Society resident
in Birmingham, and many other leading citizens.
To these were added the Members of Parliament
for the Borough, and it was a matter of gratification
to Sir Josiah Mason that Mr. Bright came specially
to signify by his presence the interest he felt in the

96 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

proceedings, and his appreciation of the generous
and thoughtful liberality of the Founder of the
College.

The ceremonial of the day, in accordance with
the Founders express desire, and in harmony with
his personal character, was made as brief and
simple as possible. Owing to the severe weather —
heavy snow, followed by sharp frost — only a few
minutes were spent on the site of the College, and
then the company adjourned to the Queen's Hotel,
where the Deputy-Mayor, Mr. Biggs (the Mayor,
Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, being absent through
domestic affliction), presented to Sir Josiah Mason
the following address of congratulation upon his
birthday, and of thanks for the munificent gift he
had, in the foundation of his College, presented to
the town : —

"Sir, — As representing the Corporation, the Magistrates,
and the leading scientific, literary, artistic, and educational
institutions of Birmingham, we beg leave to offer to you, on
our own behalf, and in the name of the town, our hearty
congratulations upon the formal commencement of the great
work you have undertaken — that of erecting and endowing a
Scientific College for the general benefit of Birmingham and
the Midland district.

"Your name is already honourably identified with an
unexampled work of thoughtful and munificent charity — the
establishment of your Orphanage and Almshouses at Erdington*
which has earned for you the gratitude of the widow and the
orphan, and the just approbation of the public, not of this
district alone, but of the country at large. In that foundation,
you showed how, by a generous mind, Wealth may be con-
secrated by its application to the noblest uses of Charity. In

THE SCIENCE COLLEGE. 97

your present foundation of this College, you give an equally
noble example of the recognition of public duty, by devoting
another large portion of your means to the diffusion of higher
education, and the consequent elevation, moral, intellectual,
and social, of your fellow citizens.

"In both the Orphanage and the College you enjoy the
rare felicity of witnessing, in your own lifetime, the accomplish-
ment of designs not less important in their results than bene-
ficial in their character and costly in their execution. For the
benefit of others, in the true spirit of self-sacrifice, you divest
yourself of wealth acquired by honourable industry and far-
sighted enterprise ; but in doing so, you gain the advantage of
directing the channels in which it shall flow, and the happiness
of maturing the means which may enable others, in their turn,
to emulate your example while they bless your name.

" It is not only' the magnitude of your benefactions which
we desire thus publicly to acknowledge, nor the admirable
purposes to which they are devoted, but also the wisdom of
the trusts under which they are administered. In both the
Orphanage and the College you have recognised the principle
of public management, by associating the Corporation of the
Borough, as the representatives of the people, with the govern-
ing bodies of your institutions. You have ordered the method
of administration on the most liberal scale — providing that the
benefits of both Orphanage and College shall be open to all,
without distinction of sex or restriction of class, birthplace, or
creed. You have also, in regard to the College, made special
provision that the instruction to be given within its walls shall
not be stereotyped in range or character, by the will of the
Founder, but shall be revised at specified intervals, so as to
adapt it to the growing requirements and changing circumstances
of future times. While providing for perpetuity, you have thus
ensured the renewal and development of healthy life.

"To the endowments already bestowed by your muni-
ficence, you now propose to add the erection of a stately
building, worthy of your great design ; and it is a happy
circumstance that the day selected for the laying of the founda-
tion stone is that upon which you complete the eightieth year of
a useful, laborious, and honourable life. We congratulate you

13

98 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

most heartily upon such a method of celebrating your birthday.
In the name of Birmingham, we thank you sincerely and gratefully
for what you have done for its citizens ; and we earnestly pray
that your life may be prolonged to witness the completion of
the work you have begun to-day, and to watch over the develop-
ment of the noble institutions established by your generosity,
and which will imperishably record your name."

This address received the signatures of the
gentlemen present, as representing the various
institutions above mentioned.

To this address Sir Josiah Mason made the
following reply, which, at his request, was read
for him by Mr. Bunce, one of the College
Trustees :—

"Gentlemen, — I have to thank you most sincerely for
your presence here to-day, to witness the laying of the founda-
tion stone of my Scientific College, and I have to thank you,
also, for the kind address which has just been read, and for
its full and generous recognition of my labours.

"It is, indeed, a matter of deep satisfaction to me that
at my advanced age I am still in possession of sufficient health
and strength to allow me to take this personal share in com-
mencing the work I have so much at heart ; it fills my mind
with gratitude to the Giver of all Good, and if it should
please Him to allow me to see the completion of the building
which we have just begun, I shall be content to depart, with
the confident belief that others, rightly appreciating my design,
will carry out the scheme of the College in the spirit in which
I have been permitted to begin it. This work, gentlemen, has
been long in my mind, for I have always felt the importance of
providing enlarged means of scientific instruction, on the scale
required by the necessities of this town and district, and upon
terms which render it easily available by persons of all classes,
even the very humblest. The experience of my own life has
long since satisfied me on this point. When I was a young man
— it is so long ago that while still living in this generation I

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 99

can recall the memories of a time long past — there were no
means of scientific teaching open to the artisan classes of our
manufacturing towns ; and those who, like myself, would
gladly have benefitted by them were compelled to plod
their weary way, under disadvantages and through difficulties
of which our young men of this day can form no adequate idea.
Schools at that time were few and poor, there were no institu-
tions of popular teaching, no evening classes to which youths
might go after their day's work was ended. Whatever I learned
I had to teach myself, in the intervals of laborious and pre-
carious occupations, first at Kidderminster, my birthplace, and
later in Birmingham, the home of my adoption, and the place
where sixty years of my life have been spent. At Kidder-
minster, as a youth, I worked at a variety of trades — baking,
shopkeeping, carpet weaving, and others. When I came to
Birmingham, in my twentieth year, I was first connected with
one of the then staple trades of the town, the gilt toy making,
and it was not until after ten years of hard work and heavy
disappointment, that I found the position that Providence had
destined me.

"At thirty years of age, with twenty pounds of savings as
my whole fortune, I was brought into association with one of the
most honourable, industrious, and ingenious of men, Mr. Samuel
Harrison, the inventor of split-rings, whom I served for a time,
and to whose business, on his retirement, I succeeded. Mr.
Harrison was no common man; he was a friend of Dr. Priestley >
whom he assisted in many of his philosophical experiments,
and for whom, I may mention, as a matter of interesting
local history, he made the first steel pen that ever was made
in Birmingham. To me he was a dear and good friend, whose
memory I have never ceased to cherish with continual affection.
To the business I received from him I afterwards added the
trade of steel pen making, which I have now followed for
more than forty-seven years, first as the maker of the well-
known Perryian pens, and later in my own name, until I
have developed the works into the largest pen factory in the
world — though I ought to say that the building in which they
are now conducted no longer belongs to me, but has been
conveyed to the Trustees of this College, as part of their

100 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

endowment, so that I am now the tenant of my own foundation.
This business and that of the split-ring making were my sole
occupations until 1840, when accident brought me in close
relations with my late valued friend and partner, Mr. G. R.
Elkington, who was then applying the great discovery of
electro-deposition, and through my association with him in this
undertaking I may claim a share in the creation of a form of
scientific industry which has so largely enriched the town of
Birmingham, and increased its fame throughout the world. To
this we afterwards added the establishment of copper-works
in South Wales, Since the death of my friend Mr. Elkington,
I have restricted myself to my original work as a penmaker and
split-ring maker, with an occasional deviation into other employ-
ments in which science has been brought to the aid of industry.
" I mention these facts to show you how the means with
which God has blessed me have been acquired, and to show,
also, how natural it is that I should wish to devote some por-
tion of those means to assist in promoting scientific teaching to
advance the varied forms of scientific industry, with which,
throughout my Birmingham life, I have been so closely con-
nected. But before I could take in hand the foundation of this
College I had another work to do. I had always had a great
desire to do some deed of love for the poor and helpless ; and,
therefore, my first care was to make provision for the aged and
the orphans. This I was enabled to do by founding the
orphanage and almshouses at Erdington ; and this being done,
I was at liberty to turn my attention to the project of the
College. There were many difficulties to be overcome. Wil-
lingness to give money will do much, but it will not do
everything. The site, for example, was a great hindrance;
many places were thought of and put aside ; others were sought
for, and could not be obtained. At last, by the willing co-
operation of my friend, Mr. Philip Henry Muntz, M.P., I was
enabled to obtain the land upon which we are now standing,
though long negotiations were necessary before a sufficient
extent could be secured. These delays, however, did not really
do any harm to the scheme ; indeed, they afforded time for the
proper consideration of the plan of the College, and the
preparation of a deed of foundation of a nature to give full

THE COLLEGE SCHEME. 101

effect to my wishes. For this I must acknowledge my great
obligations to my friend and adviser, Mr. G. J. Johnson, and to
other gentlemen, some of whom are included in the number of
my Trustees. At last, all difficulties being overcome, and the
plans for the College being settled, we are assembled to witness
the commencement of the building which I have undertaken to
erect as the future home of the foundation, and before long I
hope to see the first body of students collected within its walls.
" The scheme of the College, as most of you know, is a
large one, and I have sought to make it as liberal as possible, in
the character and extent of the teaching, the system of manage-
ment, and the mode and the terms of admission. Whatever is
necessary for the improvement of scientific industry, and for
the cultivation of Art, especially as applied to manufactures,
the Trustees will be able to teach ; they may also, by a provi-
sion subsequent to the original deed, afford facilities for medical
instruction ; and, as has been mentioned in the address read by
the Deputy-Mayor, they are authorised, and indeed enjoined, to
revise the scheme of instruction from time to time, so as to.
adapt it to the requirements of the district in future years, as
well as at the present time. It is not my desire to set up an
institution in rivalry of any other now existing ; but to provide
the means of carrying further and completing the teaching now
given in other scientific institutions, and in the evening classes
now so numerous in the town and its neighbourhood, and
especially in connection with the Midland Institute, which has
already conferred so much benefit upon large numbers of
students, and which I am glad to see represented here to-day.
My wish is, in short, to give all classes in Birmingham, in
Kidderminster, and in the district generally, the means of
carrying on, in the capital of the Midland district, their
scientific studies as completely and thoroughly as they can be
prosecuted in the great science schools of this country and the
Continent, for I am persuaded that in this way alone — by the
acquirement of sound, extensive, and practical scientific know-
ledge — can England hope to maintain her position as the manu-
facturing centre of the world. I have great, and I believe
well-founded hope for the future of this foundation. I look
forward to its class rooms and lecture halls being filled with a

102 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

succession of earnest and intelligent students, willing not only
to learn all that can be taught, but in their turn to communicate
their knowledge to others, and to apply it to useful purposes
for the benefit of the community. It is in this expectation that
I have done my part, thankful to God that He has given me
the means and the will to do it ; hoping that from this place
many original and beneficial discoveries may proceed ; trusting
that I, who have never been blessed with children of my own,
raay y e ^ i n these students, leave behind me an intelligent,
earnest, industrious, and truth-loving and truth-seeking progeny
for generations to come."

The description of his design thus given by
the Founder is justified by the provisions of
the Deed of Foundation. The plan of the
College first began to assume shape about 1868.
Sir Josiah Mason's original idea was to purchase
the building now occupied by the Queen's College
in Paradise Street, and to adapt it to his enlarged
scheme of scientific instruction. This, however,
from legal and other reasons, proved to be im-
practicable, and then an idea was formed of
grafting the College upon the Midland Institute.
But this would have necessitated a considerable
change in the functions and government of the
Institute, and the obtaining of a new Act of Parlia-
ment to vary the Institute Act ; besides which it
was felt that the two institutions would form the
complement of each other, and had therefore better
be kept separate, as affording the best prospect of
good management and efficient working for each
of them. Consequently, Sir Josiah Mason and his

ORIGIN OF THE COLLEGE. 103

advisers came to the conclusion that an inde
pendent foundation, under the name of the Mason
Science College, was the best thing for the town ;
and it was not unnaturally felt that such a
foundation would also, in the most permanent and
honourable manner, preserve the name and memory
of the Founder. This being resolved upon, there
were three points of importance to be considered —
the scheme of the College ; the site ; and the
preparation of the Foundation Deed. The scheme
of instruction required long and serious considera-
tion, and in arranging it, so as to meet the
requirements of the town and district in the
completest manner, Sir Josiah Mason sought the
advice of several persons who had given much
thought to the subject, and who had acquired
experience in the conduct of similar undertakings
in Birmingham, and in the manufactures of the
town. Foremost amongst these, as the Founder
mentioned in the statement above quoted, was
his friend and legal adviser, Mr. G. J. Johnson,
formerly Professor of Law in Queen's College,
Birmingham. Mr. George Shaw, formerly Pro-
fessor of Chemistry in Queen's College, assisted
greatly in drawing up the scheme of instruction,
and the writer of this Memoir was likewise per-
mitted to take some share in the work. It was
not, however, until the close of the year 1870
that the scheme could be finally settled, and the

104 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Deed prepared — this important part of the matter
being undertaken by Mr. Johnson, with the co-
operation of Mr. J. B. Braithwaite, of Lincoln's
Inn. At; last, on the 12th of December, 1870, the
Foundation Deed was formally executed. It was
made between " Josiah Mason, of Norwood House,
Erdington, in the parish of Aston, near Birming-
ham, manufacturer, of the first or one part, and
James Gibbs Blake, doctor of medicine, and George
James Johnson, attorney and solicitor, both of
Birmingham aforesaid, of the second or other
part ; " and it was witnessed by " W. C. Aitken,
Mayfield House, Heathfield Eoad, Handsworth,
manager of metal works, and John Thackray
Bunce, 109, Bristol Road, Birmingham, newspaper
editor/' The Deed was enrolled in Chancery on
the 15th of December; and, in compliance with
the Statutes of Mortmain, in Chancery it had to
remain for twelve months, it being necessary that
to give effect to his design, the Deed should be
enrolled for twelve months during the lifetime of the
Founder. In order to secure the fulfilment of the
Founder's intention, in the event of his death
before the Deed had acquired legal force, Sir Josiah
Mason repeated the plan which had been adopted
in reference to the Orphanage. But as Mr. Chance
had been informed of the Orphanage gift, it was
necessary to select some other gentleman in order
to prevent suspicion of any previous understanding

PURCHASE OF A SITE. 105

between Sir Josiah Mason and the devisee, which
at law would have created a trust and nullified
the gift. Sir Josiah Mason therefore executed a
will bequeathing the whole of the designed endow-
ments of the College to Mr. Thomas Avery, the
present Mayor of Birmingham, and with the will
a letter was deposited explaining the testator's
wishes. The twelve months having elapsed, the
Deed became legally binding, and Dr. Blake and
Mr. Johnson were thus constituted the first
Trustees of the Scientific College, and as such,
held in trust the various properties conveyed to
them by the Founder, for the purposes of the
College. Another delay of some months was
caused by difficulties connected with the site of
the building. The Founder had purchased some
land in Edmund Street, Birmingham, close to
the Town Hall, the Free Libraries, and the
Midland Institute, and he desired to erect his
College in this central position. But the site was
not large enough, and it was found very difficult
to obtain sufficient land. An endeavour was made
to purchase the ground at the corner of Edmund
Street and Congreve Street, which would have
given ample space in a commanding position, but
this effort proved unsuccessful, and therefore
attention was directed towards acquiring the
land stretching through from Edmund Street to
Great Charles Street. The property was valuable,

14

106 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

the interests of freeholders, lessees, and sub-tenants
were numerous and complicated, and consequently
progress was necessarily slow. By the co-operation
of Mr. P. H. Muntz, M.P., one of the principal
owners — who met the Founder in a most willing
and liberal spirit — an arrangement was finally
completed ; and thus, with subsequent additions,
a sufficient area of land was obtained — about an
acre in the whole, with frontages to Edmund
Street and to Great Charles Street, and the question
of the site was decided.

The next step was to fill up the body of
Trustees to the required number of six, in order
that the work of the Foundation might be regu-
larly carried on. This was done in September,
1872, when the Founder nominated as Trustees
the following gentlemen — namely, Dr. Blake and
Mr. G. J. Johnson, the original Trustees; Mr.
William Costen Aitken, Mr. John Thackray
Bunce, Dr. Thomas Pretious Heslop, and Mr.
George Shaw. The first meeting of the Trustees
was held on the 23rd of February, 1873 — the
Founder's seventy-eighth birthday — when the
Deed was signed by the Trustees in the picture
gallery of his house at Erdington.

Questions of great importance now arose
as regards the site, and these, including a fresh
endeavour to extend it to Congreve Street, oc-
cupied a long time. It was not until this

PLANS OF THE COLLEGE. 107

matter was decided that the plans of the College
could be laid out. When this part of the work
was begun by a committee of the Trustees, consist-
ing of Dr. Blake, Dr. Heslop, Mr. Shaw, and Mr.
Aitken, it was found necessary to proceed with
extreme care, so as to adapt the building not only
to present use, but to the future requirements of
the foundation. In order that full advantage
might be taken of the experience of existing
institutions, Mr. J. A. Cossins, the architect
selected by the Founder, was requested to visit the
principal science colleges of this country and the
Continent, before preparing his plans and the
information thus acquired, both in England and in
Germany, proved of the highest value in laying out
the arrangement of the building ; the desire of the
Founder and of the Trustees being that Josiah
Mason's College should, as regards completeness as
well as capacity, stand in the first rank of such
institutions. The plans thus carefully prepared
and matured, were finally approved by the
Founder, and by the whole body of Trustees, early
in the autumn of 1874, when the work of clearing
the site and of putting in the foundations was at
once begun. Owing to the extent of the intended
building, and to the circumstance of the ground
being covered with houses, this was an operation of
considerable difficulty, and therefore it was not
until February, 1875, that the ceremony of laying

108 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

the foundation stone could take place. At the
united and earnest request of the Trustees, the
Founder consented to lay the stone upon the
occasion of his eightieth birthday ; and thus, on
the 25th of February, 1875, the work which had
occupied nearly six years of consideration and
preparation was formally begun, with the simple
ceremonial already described.

The following description of the College
building, as completed for opening, is reprinted
from the Birmingham Daily Post of October 2nd,
1880:

The site extends from Edmund Street to Great Charles
Street, and comprises about an acre of land, with a frontage of
150 feet to the former thoroughfare, and a depth of 313 feet;
but only half the ground is at present covered with buildings.
These are arranged round two quadrangles, the main block
fronting to Edmund Street, and a range of buildings of about
the same bulk standing parallel with it at the rear. The two
are connected with it by east and west wings, and by a covered
central corridor and out-offices, which divide the enclosed space
into two open courts, each of ample extent for the purpose of
light and ventilation. With the exception of the east wing, aU
the buildings are four storeys in height, and in the centre of the
principal facade a large museum has been provided, partly in the
lofty roof. A general idea of the plan may perhaps be best
given by stating that the area over half an acre is about square,
the principal rooms being in two ranges of building, one forming
the front to Edmund Street, and the other parallel to it at the
back, these blocks being connected by narrower buildings, and
the quadrangle thus enclosed is divided by the main corridors
on each floor, the central staircase, lavatories, &c. In addition
to the square thus formed, towards Great Charles Street on the

THE COLLEGE BUILDING. 109

western side is a range of rooms, three storeys high, which, have
since been added. The whole of the walls are of brick and
stone. For the front in Edmund Street an excellent deep-red
brick from Kingswinford has been employed, with Portland,
Bath, and Bolton Wood stone for the windows and other details.
The elevation is symmetrical, having the principal entrance in
the centre. It is in the 13th century style, with details of a
somewhat French character. The ground floor is raised seven
feet above the street level, and a massive plinth of Bromley
stone is carried to this height. It is somewhat unfortunate that
the space in front of the College is only partially open ground,
so that it is impossible to get a full view of the whole structure,
The building, however, does not suffer so much from this cause
as might have been expected ; and, on the whole, it appears to
great advantage from a near point of view, with a sharp fore-
shortening of the facade. It will be noticed, however, that the
western gable extremity of the principal front has not been
completed. This arises from a dispute as to light.*

The College is entered from a boldly-moulded and deeply-
recessed arch, with shafts of grey York stone. Their bases stand
above the plinth, and thus the moulding and all details liable to
damage are placed above the reach of injury The entrance is
closed by handsome wrought-iron gates, sliding into grooves in
the jambs. Over the gateway projects a stone balcony, above
which is a bold and elaborate oriel window of two storeys in
height, with geometrical tracery in the heads of the lights. The
lofty central gable, against which the upper part of the oriel
abuts, is terminated by a mermaid — the crest of the generous
founder of the institution — at a height of 122 feet above the pave-
ment. All the windows — and there are sixty of them in front
of the building, besides the dormers and oriels — have geometrical
tracery within deeply-recessed arches, with effective moulded
and shafted jambs, the latter having carved capitals. A stone
balcony extends along the whole of the front at the level of the
roof, and is stopped at the angles of the several blocks by
octagonal turrets carried out from the lines of the front on
moulded corbels. On the facade at various points are carved the

* The dispute has been settled by the purchase of the adjoining
building; and the work is finished.

110 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

arms of Birmingham, Warwickshire, "Worcestershire, and of Sir
Josiah Mason. The roofs, which are of a very steep pitch, are
red tiled, and are pierced by dormers of quaint design, which,
with the ornamental turrets and chimneys springing from the
top of the building, have a highly picturesque effect. The
whole of the principal front, indeed, is treated with remarkable
skill ; it is bold without bareness, massive without heaviness,
and full of richly and admirably-designed detail without
pettiness, or giving any sense of being too much broken up.
Yet, elaborate as this work appears on a general view, closer
inspection shows that the effect is gained by the simplest means,
and these wholly constructional — the true test of an architect's
capacity to deal with ornament. Speaking alike of the general
mass of the edifice and of its enrichments, we but repeat the
common judgment in pronouncing it the finest building in
Birmingham, and one of which the town has good reason to be
proud ; and although the common judgment is not always right,
yet in this instance there will be found no one disposed to
contest it.

Entering the College by the finely-groined porch, which has
moulded ribs, resting on dwarf columns, with carved capitals,
the spaces between the wall ribs being filled with geometrical
tracery and carved spandrils, the visitor finds a handsome central
corridor, about 100ft. long by 8£ft. broad, with transverse
corridors branching to the right and the left. The latter conduct
to the offices connected with the administration of the College, a
room allotted to the Natural History Society, and two professors'
rooms. The side corridors turn northwards along the wings of
the building. In the eastern wing there are two rooms and a
class room for the use of female students, and in the western
two class rooms and an assistant's room for men. These rooms
which are about 15ft. square, have windows looking into the
quadrangles, and also receive light from the corridors. The
corridors end in smaller doors to the apartments in the northern
main block, to which, however, the principal approach is by the
central corridor. Proceeding along the latter from the entrance*
the visitor first passes on his right the handsome main staircase
from basement to top, which opens from the corridor, and is
divided from it by an arcade of richly-moulded arches, resting on

THE COLLEGE BUILDING. Ill

polished Aberdeen granite, with carved capitals. A door
opposite leads to an excellently-arranged cloak room, lavatory,
&c. The windows of the corridor and staircases throughout are
of stone, with shafted jambs, carved capitals, and moulded
arches. There are also staircases at the extremity of the trans-
verse corridors communicating with every storey, and descending
into the basement.

At the extreme end of the central corridor are two noble
apartments, each 48ft. by 30ft. The one on the right is the library
and reading room, and has behind it an ante-room, which can
either be used as a place for conversation, or as a separate reading
room for ladies. The room on the left is the physics laboratory,
fitted with every requisite. It also has an ante-room, which is
set apart for apparatus, and a dark room for spectroscope studies.
The western corridor is continued past the end of this room
along the annexe which projects further towards Great Charles
Street, and in which are provided a workshop and two rooms,
at the disposal of the professor of physics.

On reaching the first floor by the principal staircase, a short
turn to the left conducts to the rooms facing Edmund Street.
The chief and central room is the chemical lecture theatre,
49ft. by 33ft., fitted with seats tier above tier, for the accommo-
dation of 155 students. The male students will occupy the
lower half, and the female students the seats above and behind
them, a separate entrance being provided for each sex. The
arrangements for the convenience of the lecturer or demonstrator
are probably the most complete to be found in any similar
institution. He has a long table fitted with sinks, mercury
baths, down-draught flues (to carry away the noxious fumes that
may be evolved in any of the demonstrations), and taps supply-
ing hydrogen gas, oxygen gas, and water, with improved arrange-
ments for regulating the supply. In the wall behind the
lecturer are three niches, closed by a shutter, with stench-flue
over, in which any process may be carried on in sight of the
students. The theatre is admirably lighted, but can in a few
moments be rendered dark by the drawing of opaque blinds,
with which the whole of the windows are furnished. The ante-
room for the lecturer's assistant is a large apartment, furnished
with slabs, sinks, and stench-flues, and everything which could

112 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

be desired for the preparation of chemical experiments and
demonstrations. Behind this there is another room, in which
what are called collections may he permanently kept in readi-
ness. Leaving the lecture theatre by a door at the top of the
auditorium, there is a class room for electricity, and another for
magnetism, &c. These complete the front rooms on the first
floor. The western wing of the first floor has been assigned
mainly to the biological department of the College. Adjoining
the spacious lecture theatre is the biological laboratory — a large
and well-lighted room, 60ft. by 21ft. and, in addition,
there is a private room for the professor, a preparation
room, and rooms for the demonstrator and attendant. One or
two rooms have also been set aside for students or others who
may wish to devote themselves to original research. On the base-
ment floor there are rooms for storage and for the temporary
reception of live animals. It may also be mentioned, in con-
nection with this department, that an old building in the yard
at the rear of the College will be arranged for the dissection of
large animals. The corresponding portion of the eastern wing
consists of rooms to be used for apparatus and other purposes in
connection with the physics department. The first floor of the
north main block is occupied by two other lecture theatres — one
for biology and mathematics, and the other for physics, the
latter 47ft. by 30fb., and the former a little smaller, with
preparation rooms at the end of each.

The second floor or top storey is principally devoted to the
chemical department, for which the arrangements are of the
most extensive and complete kind. A large room, 25ft. by 33ft.,
in the front of the building, over the chemical lecture theatre,
will be used as a general assembly and examination room. The
window of this room is the oriel which forms such a conspicuous
eature in the facade ; it is a lofty, well-proportioned apartment,
and will be available for meetings of scientific societies. Upon
one side of it are the private study and private laboratory of the
chemistry professor, fitted up with every requisite for research ;
and on the other side are rooms for tho curator of the museum
and for class purposes. The laboratories are situated end to end
in the north block or back range, and are lighted both by
windows and skylights. These measure together about 104 feet

THE COLLEGE BUILDING. 113

long by 32 wide, and are divided by a screen in the centre.
The larger laboratory is for qualitative analysis, and the smaller
for quantitative. The arrangements have been the subject of
great thought and investigation by the architect, with a view to
render them as complete and well designed as possible. In the
qualitative laboratory there are four double operating tables,
fitted with sinks, gas, and water for forty students, and there is
a large unencumbered table in the middle of the apartment for
long trains of chemical apparatus. Along the walls are ten
niches for operations giving off fumes, each provided with a flue,
which rapidly carries off the vapours produced into the outer
air. There are slabs at each window for investigations requiring
a large amount of daylight, and shelves arranged along the walls
with all the reagents required by the students in their investiga-
tions. At the end of the laboratory are slabs and ovens for
drying purposes. The laboratory for quantitative analysis is a
little shorter than the one just described. In addition to fittings
and appliances similar to those in the other laboratory for thirty-
two students, there are two large ventilated niches lighted from
the back. There is an extra room in the annexe for gas
analysis, another for delicate weighing operations, and a room
for the demonstrator. The western wing is not carried above
the first floor, but the eastern wing affords accommodation for a
chemical reference library and reading room, a room for com-
bustions and fusions, and a steward's store room. From the
latter the students will be able to obtain all the apparatus they
may require.

In addition to the three complete floors previously described,
over the third floor, in the centre of the front block, is a large
and lofty room, with open timber roof, and partially lighted
from the top, intended for use as a museum. The walls have
been fitted with glazed wall-cases, and on the floor are mahogany
cases, with glazed tops, for the display of specimens, with nests
of drawers underneath. All these have been constructed on the
most approved principles for the exclusion of dust and air. The
collection of Silurian fossils already arranged in the cases is the
property of the trustees, and will form the nucleus of a museum,
which it is intended shall be of a strictly scientific character,
and specially adapted to the requirements of the professors and

15

114 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

their classes. The collection consists of a remarkably fine series
of marine fossils from the Wenlock limestone, and calcareous
shale of Dudley ; nearly all the specimens are in a fine state of
preservation, and the collection, as a whole, affords a very com-
plete illustration of the life of the Upper Silurian period. The
basement story, extending under the whole of the ground floor,
is lofty and well lighted, and contains store rooms, rooms for
special operations in physics and chemistry, a large room for
mineralogy, boilers for heating and for steam, and for other
purposes. This communicates with a spacious yard at the back,
entered by a covered cartway from Great Charles Street, for
the admission of coals, stores, &c. A special room has also
been reserved for the use of the professor of physics, in which
arrangements will be provided for carrying on the interesting
and delicate experiment of weighing the earth.

The ventilation and warming of the College are upon an
improved and effective plan. Near the centre of the area rises
a very large chimney-stack to the height of about 160 feet, and
it is divided into three flues by partitions. The central flue
carries the smoke from the boiler, and heats the air in the
adjoining flues, which are used for ventilating the lecture
theatres. The pipe from the fume-niches in the chemical
laboratories also communicate with the stack by means of a
horizontal flue round the walls. The warming is effected by a
coil of pipes, containing 4,475 superficial feet, placed in a
vault in the basement. These are warmed by the water from
the large boiler, and the air from the courts, passing over the
pipes, is conducted by flues to every room in the building. In
summer cold air is admitted into the rooms by the same means.
This promises to be a very successful mode of warming the
building. The drains have been constructed with unusual care,
and are ventilated into a spacious flue, carried up into the main
shaft. Another important feature is the lavatory accommodation,
which is ample and complete, there being cloak rooms and
lavatories on every floor opposite the central stairs, while the
larger number of closets are in the yard beyond, and entirely cut
off from the main building. A lift runs through all the
floors for taking up stores and other things, and there is also a
common shaft carrying the gas and water pipes, the junctions of

ARCHITECT OF THE COLLEGE. 115

which are easily accessible upon each floor. The curious in such
matters may like to know that there are about one hundred
rooms in the college, and 370 windows, while at present
about 8,000 feet of gas-piping have been used.

Our readers have now, we hope, a general idea of the
arrangement of this half-an-acre building which the munificence
of Sir Josiah Mason and the skill of Mr. Cossins have
combined to add to the educational institutions of Birmingham.
No gift nobler in its motive, more beneficent in its purpose,
or more perfect in its aptitude and completeness could be
offered by a citizen of a great community for the acceptance
of his fellow townsmen ; and the gift is magnificently complete,
for, in addition to the large endowments previously conveyed
to the trustees, Sir Josiah Mason has built the college and
has furnished its various departments with the necessary fittings
entirely at his own cost, so that the interest attaching to this
crowning of his great work is enhanced by the fact that, from
the laying the foundation stone to the final touches, the
Founder has taken the keenest personal pleasure in the progress
of the work, visiting the building almost daily, inspecting
every detail, and giving from time to time most valuable help
in the way of suggestion. His one desire has been that the
place should be in all respects worthy of the town, and of
the purposes to which it is to be devoted, and, we may
venture to add, worthy also of the feeling in wjiich the work
originated. In one respect — and that of vital consequence — Sir
Josiah Mason has been singularly fortunate — namely, in the
choice of Mr. J. A. Cossins as his architect. Of the skill in de-
sign which Mr. Cossins has exhibited we have already spoken.
Apart from this, his labour in connection with the building is
alike beyond expression and beyond praise. It has, indeed,
been with him a labour of love. In order to prepare himself to
make an adequate plan, he visited, at the request of the trustees,
all the principal scientific colleges on the Continent and in our
own country, and the best features and latest improvements of
these will, we believe, be found incorporated in the plan of the
Mason College. In the work of building Mr. Cossins has under-
taken labours of an unusual kind. Headers acquainted with
such operations will understand this when we say that the

116 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

College has been erected without making a single contract. The
architect himself laid out the work, and saw personally to the
execution of every detail. The result is a building of wonderful
solidity, completeness, and harmony of arrangement; but the
labour has been enormous, and has entailed almost constant
attendance during the whole period of construction. Now that
it is finished, Mr. Cossins may be well content with the result of
his devotion, and the Founder and the town have special and
enduring reason to be indebted to him. Others concerned in the
building are also deserving of honourable mention. Mr. Cossins
has had the valuable assistance of Mr. Hodgkiss as manager ; the
stonework has been executed by Mr. Prothero ; the carving is
by Mr. J. Smith ; Messrs. Camm Brothers have supplied the
ornamental glass, which is excellent in design and quality ; the
gas-fittings are by Messrs. E. W. Winfield and Co.; Mr. Pearce
has furnished the other glass ; the wrought-iron entrance gate (a
remarkably fine specimen of iron-working) is by Messrs. C.
Smith and Sons, Deritend; the painting by Mr. Potter; and
some of the movable fittings by the Midland Joinery Company,
the rest, including the fittings of the lecture theatres and labora-
tories, having been made in the College workshops, under the
superintendence of the architect. The furniture for the trustees'
room and the assembly room has been made by Messrs. Marris
and Norton ; and other rooms have been furnished by Messrs.
Chamberlain, King, and Jones, and Messrs. Manton and Sons.
Messrs. Hart, Son, and Peard supplied the ornamental ironwork
on the roof of the college, the balustrades, and the iron
windows and the plumbing was done by Mr. Cook."

Since this description was published, an
important addition has been made to the College
buildings, by the erection of a series of rooms for
the department of Physiology ; the means of
effecting this enlargement being obtained by the
purchase of an adjoining property. Some changes
have also been made in the internal arrangement,
so as to provide for additional professors.

THE COLLEGE TRUST DEED. 117

We now return to the Deed of Foundation,
in order to explain the intention of the Founder,
the nature of the Trust, the scope and government
of the College, and the property conveyed to the
Trustees for the maintenance of the institution.

An authentic statement of the Founder's
design is given in the recital with which the
original Deed commences, as follows : —

"In explanation of the object and intention
of these presents, the said Josiah Mason desires it
to be recorded that he was born at Kidderminster,
in the county of Worcester, and that from his
earliest youth he was engaged in earning his live-
lihood, first as a shoemaker, then as a baker, then
as a carpet weaver at Kidderminster aforesaid,
when at the age of twenty years he came to
Birmingham, where until the age of thirty years he
was a jeweller and gilt toy maker, and was then
introduced into his present business of steel split-
ring and key-ring making (which introduction was
the foundation of all his subsequent worldly
prosperity) by his good friend Samuel Harrison,
the first inventor of steel split-rings, and that he,
the said Josiah Mason, having succeeded to the
said business of the said Samuel Harrison, added
to it the manufacture of steel pens, both of which
businesses he hath ever since continued. With
the capital acquired in the said businesses he the
said Josiah Mason afterwards entered into partner-

118 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

ship with George Kichards Elkington (now de-
ceased), as electro-platers and gilders, under the
firm of Elkington and Mason, and then in the
business of copper-smelting, under the firm of
Mason and Elkington, And the said Josiah
Mason hath dedicated a portion of the wealth so
acquired by him in erecting and endowing at
Erdington aforesaid an Orphan Asylum for Boys
and Girls, under the name of Josiah Mason's
Orphanage, and being deeply convinced, from his
long and varied experience as aforesaid in different
branches of manufacture, of the necessity for a
benefit of thorough systematic scientific instruction,
specially adapted to the practical, mechanical, and
artistic requirements of the manufactures and
industrial pursuits of the Midland district, and
particularly of the Boroughs of Birmingham and
Kidderminster, he hath determined to devote a
portion of his remaining property to the foundation
of an institution wherein such systematic scientific
education may be given. And in order to connect
the said institution with Josiah Mason's Orphanage,
and to commemorate his connection with Birming-
ham and Kidderminster, the said Josiah Mason
hath determined to provide for such preference for
certain of the pupils of the said Orphanage, and
for persons born in the said Boroughs of Birming-
ham and Kidderminster, as is hereinafter provided."
In another clause of the Deed this recital is

THE COLLEGE TRUST DEED. 119

continued, as follows :— " It being understood that
the institution intended to be hereby founded is
intended to be called Josiah Mason's Scientific
College, or Josiah Mason's College for the Study of
Practical Science, he the said Josiah Mason hereby
declares that his intention in founding the same is
to promote, in conformity with these presents,
thorough systematic education and instruction
specially adapted to the practical, mechanical, and
artistic requirements of the manufactures and
industrial pursuits of the Midland district, and
particularly the Boroughs of Birmingham and
Kidderminster, to the exclusion of mere literary
education and instruction, and of all teaching of
theology and of subjects purely theological, which
limitations the said Josiah Mason hereby declares
to be fundamental. ,,

Subject to this general statement, the subjects
of regular systematic instruction to be given in the
College are defined in the following clause (the
24th of the Deed) : — " As soon as practicable
after the completion of suitable buildings and
erections in connection with the institution,
proper arrangements shall be made by the
Trustees for the systematic instruction of the
students by means of regular classes, and such
other means aa shall, from time to time, be
deemed expedient, in all such subjects as shall
be necessary to accomplish the purpose and in-

120 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

tention of the said institution, as heretofore
declared. And the Founder hereby expressly
declares that such instruction (hereafter referred
to as regular systematic instruction) shall, as far
as practicable, include the following subjects,
namely : —

" Mathematics, abstract and applied ;

" Physics, both mathematical and experi-
mental ;

"Chemistry, theoretical, practical, and
applied ;

" The Natural Sciences, especially Geology
and Mineralogy, with their applica-
tions to Metallurgy ;

" Botany and Zoology, with special appli-
cation to Manufactures ;

" Physiology, with special reference to
the Laws of Health ;

"The English, French, and German Lan-
guages ;

and may, in the discretion of the Trustees, in-
clude all such other subjects of instruction as
shall be necessary to carry into effect the inten-
tion of the Founder to give thorough systematic
scientific education and instruction, specially
adapted to the practical, mechanical, and artistic
requirements for the time being of the manu-
factures and industrial pursuits of the Midland

THE COLLEGE TRUST DEED. 121

district, and of the Boroughs of Birmingham and
Kidderminster and the surrounding districts, but
excluding mere literary education and instruc-
tion." The next clause extends the scheme of the
College, by providing that the Trustees may
make arrangements to give instruction of " a
more general or popular character, by means of
additional lectures and classes, occasional or other-
wise," upon the subjects iD eluded in the regular
course of the College. One class of subjects is,
however, expressly excluded. It is "provided
always, that no lectures, or teaching, or examina-
tion shall be permitted in the institution upon
theology, or any question or subject in its nature
purely theological, or upon any question which for
the time being shall be the subject of party political
controversy;" and this condition, it is added, " the
said Josiah Mason doth declare to be fundamental."
At the same time, it is also expressly provided that
theological opinion shall be no bar to the appoint-
ment of teachers. On this point, it is declared to
be " a fundamental condition of the institution "
that "no principal, vice -principal, professor, teacher,
or other officer, servant, or assistant of the institu-
tion shall be required to make any declaration as
to, or to submit to any test whatever of their
religious or theological opinions, or be presumed to
be qualified or disqualified by any such religious
or theological opinions, but shall be appointed

16

122 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

solely for their fitness to give the scientific or
artistic instruction required from them."

By a subsequent deed, dated February 23,
1874, the expression, "regular systematic instruc-
tion" in the original deed, was expanded so as
to include the teaching of Anatomy and of the
Greek and Latin languages. A third deed, dated
February 23, 1881, still further enlarges and
completes the teachiDg scheme of the College. It
recites that the Founder desires to qualify the
College for admission as a constituent member of
the London University or the Victoria University,
and as a complete course in Arts is necessary for
this purpose, the deed provides that the "regular
systematic instruction" may, at the discretion of
the Trustees, include not only the subjects specified
by the previous deed, " but also all such other
subjects, not being expressly included by the said
Deed of Foundation, as the Trustees for the time
being shall judge necessary or desirable for the
benefit of the students, with the view more
especially of promoting and maintaining such a
course of study as shall qualify for degrees in Arts
and Science in the Victoria University, or the
London University, or any other University of
which the Institution shall form part." This deed
also authorises the Trustees to give " popular or
unsystematic instruction upon such other subjects
not expressly excluded by the Deed of Foundation,"

SUPPLEMENTARY DEEDS. 123

and also, "to vary the course of instruction, either
by the addition or introduction of subjects not for
the time being previously taught and not expressly
included by the Deed of Foundation, or by the
discontinuance of any subject or class of subjects
previously taught, as the Trustees shall, from time
to time, in their absolute discretion, think fit."
By the same deed the name of the Institution is
declared to be " The Mason Science College."

The effect of these several deeds is that the
Trustees are authorised to provide instruction in
all branches of Science (including medical and
surgical science), in Art, in Languages and Litera-
ture, and in all subjects required for degrees in
Arts or Science. They are authorised also to
institute a scheme of popular as well as regular
and systematic instruction. In one word— ex-
eluding theology and politics — the scheme of
teaching in the College is absolutely unfettered,
and the Trustees have power to vary the scheme as
occasion may require.

In order to ensure the adaptation of the
College and its course of teaching to the require-
ments of the district from time to time, it is
provided that, excepting as regards the provisions
declared to be fundamental, the Trustees shall
review the course of instruction at each annual
meeting, and that they may, at successive periods
of fifteen years, alter or vary the provisions of the

124 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Deed as regards the course of instruction, and
other matters of government and arrangement;
such alterations to be of a nature which, in the
unanimous judgment of the Trustees, "shall tend
to make the regulations and provisions for the
time being subsisting in relation to the institution
better adapted to the then for the time being
existing practical, mechanical, and artistical re-
quirements of the manufacturing and industrial
population of the Midland district of England, and
especially of the Boroughs of Birmingham and
Kidderminster. "

The Deed provides further that the instruction
given in the College, whether in the regular or
popular classes, is to be free or payable by fees at
the discretion of the Trustees, and they are
empowered to create scholarships, exhibitions,
prizes, &c. There is no limitation upon admission
of students as regards creed, race, age, sex, or birth-
place, so far as concerns the popular classes ; but as
concerns the regular classes the Trustees, all other
things being all equal, are required to give prefer-
ence to candidates who may have been or may be
inmates of Sir Josiah Mason's Orphanage, to the
extent of not more than one-fifth of the whole
number of regular students, and thereafter prefer-
ence is to be given to candidates (otherwise eligible)
born within the Boroughs of Birmingham and
Kidderminster, in the proportion of two Birmingham

THE CLASSES OF STUDENTS. 125

students to one Kidderminster student. In the
original Deed of Foundation there were inserted
clauses providing that no student not wholly-
dependent' for a livelihood upon his own skill or
labour, or dependent upon the support of his
parents or some other person, should be admitted
to the College; and providing also that students
should not be under fourteen nor above twenty-
five years of age. By a Deed of Variation, dated
December 12, 1870, these provisions were annulled,
and the following clause was substituted for them :
— "It is hereby declared that whilst the poorer
classes of the community are not to be considered
as having any exclusive right to the benefit of the
Institution gratuitously, or without payment of
fees, yet no person shall be admitted to the benefit
of the Institution without payment of fees who is
not, in the judgment of the Trustees for the time
being, either wholly or principally dependent for
his livelihood upon his own skill and labour,
or upon the support of his parent or parents, or
some other person or persons." These regulations
are, however, subject to exceptional variations at
the discretion of the Trustees.

During the lifetime of the Founder the govern-
ment of the College was confided by the Foundation
Deed to the six Trustees already named, the Founder
himself being Visitor, and having the right to
act as Bailiff or Chairman of the Trust, or to

126 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

appoint any one of the Trustees to act in
that capacity for him. He had also the power
of appointing teachers and officers during his
life. After his decease the Town Council of
Birmingham were empowered to nominate five
other Trustees, who may be, but need not be
members of the Town Council, and these
five, together with the six now appointed,
constitute the future body of Trustees, who are
never to be more than eleven in number. Vacan-
cies in the Borough or official Trustees are to be
filled up by the Town Council, and vacancies in the
other six Trustees are to be filled by the whole
body. All the Trustees are to be laymen and
Protestants, and this qualification is declared to be
fundamental. Any Trustee ceasing to be a layman
or Protestant must be removed from office, and
any Trustee may be removed for misconduct.
Trustees may, it is provided, render professional
and other services to the institution, may be
appointed as professors or teachers, and may
receive remuneration for their services.

The property conveyed to the original Trustees
as recited in the Deed of Foundation has since
that date been considerably augmented in amount.
At the close of the year 1881, it consisted of
freehold lands, buildings, and ground rents, in
various parts of Birmingham, yielding an annual
revenue of £3,700. The purchase value of this

THE COLLEGE ENDOWMENTS. 127

property was £110,000. The sum of £60,000,
provided in addition by the Founder, was ex-
pended upon the building and furnishing of the
College ; thus, up to the date above mentioned,
raising the total benefaction to £170,000. By Sir
Josiah Mason's will, the College is constituted his
residuary legatee; and although the additional
funds coming to it (after the satisfaction of certain
life interests described in the will) are not yet
ascertained, it may be assumed that the total
amount of the Foundation will not ultimately fall
very far short of £200,000.

The reader will now understand what Sir
Josiah Mason contemplated by his great benefac-
tion. His design was to establish a College, open
to all, unfettered by restrictions of class, creed, race,
or sex, capable of teaching all that can be taught in
science, literature, and art, placed virtually under
public management, supplied with a magnificent
building, and aided by a liberal endowment. So far
as human foresight can secure it, his object will be
attained, for all the provisions which experience can
suggest, so as to combine fixity of purpose with
freedom of government, and adaptation to changing
times and circumstances, are embodied in his Deed
of Foundation.

The College was formally opened on the 1st
of October, 1880. The proceedings of the day
began with a meeting in the Town HaU, presided

128 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

over by Mr. Richard Chamberlain, then Mayor of
Birmingham, and attended by representatives of the
Corporations of Birmingham and Kidderminster,
and of the leading Scientific and Literary Institu-
tions of Birmingham, and the Universities of Oxford,
Cambridge, and London, the Victoria University,
and by the Trustees and Professors of the College.
The venerable Founder was himself able to be
present at the ceremony. His appearance on
the platform of the Hall was hailed by a prolonged
and enthusiastic burst of cheering from the vast
assembly. When the official persons engaged in
the business of the day had taken their seats, a
choir selected from the Birmingham Festival Choral
Society, conducted by Mr. Stockley, sang Men-
delssohn's hymn, " Let our Theme of Praise
Ascending," the words of which, as peculiarly
appropriate to the occasion, may here be re
peated : —

"Let our theme of praise ascending,
Blent in music's lofty strain,
Soaring through the starry main,
Peal in echoes never ending.

" Learning dawn'd, its light arose ;
Thus the Truth assailed its foes,

Faith and Hope began to banish
Doubt and soul-appalling fear.

(<

Spreading— shining still more clear,

Error in their beams will vanish ;
Learning dawn'd, its light arose,
Thus the Truth assailed its foes.

\

OPENING OF THE COLLEGE. 129

"Mortals roam'd without a guide,
Darkness clouded every nation;
Not a ray could be descried,
All was gloom and desolation.

" Learning dawn'd, its light arose ;
Thus the Truth assails its foes,
Till the earth with one accord,
Shall adore and praise the Lord."

On the conclusion of the hymn, Professor
Huxley, who had kindly complied with the invita-
tion of the Trustees to be present, delivered a
brilliant address. On the motion of the Mayor,
seconded by Dr. Heslop (one of the Trustees), a
vote of thanks was given to Dr. Huxley for
his address. In brief but well-chosen sentences,
Dr. Huxley, acknowledging the vote, said there
were many then present " who could look back to
the time when the anticipations of the building or
dedication of a College such as that which they
had now seen launched, would have been looked
upon as piece of chimerical absurdity, and when
there was not, in the whole of the three kingdoms,
accessible to the inhabitants, high or low, such
teaching as would now be available to every
inhabitant of Birmingham, rich or poor, in Mason's
Scientific College. "

In the afternoon of the same day a luncheon
was given at the Queen's Hotel. Mr. G-. J. Johnson,
Chairman of the Trustees, presided, and the vice-
chairs were taken by three of the Trustees, Dr.

17

130 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Heslop, Dr. Gibbs Blake, and Mr. J. T. Bunce.
The company consisted of the principal visitors
who had attended the Town Hall meeting, and of
representatives of literary, scientific, and general
educational institutions in the town. Amongst
those who proposed or acknowledged the toasts
given after luncheon were the Chairman, Mr. R. W.
Dale, Dr. Tilden (Professor of Chemistry at the
College), Professor Roscoe (of the Owens College),
Mr. Bunce, Professor Huxley, Professor Max Muller,
Professor Greenwood (the Owens College), Mr.
Cossins (the architect of the College building), and
the Mayor of Birmingham. The speeches generally
were of a most interesting character, some of them
— especially those of Mr. Dale and Professor Max
Muller— were of a remarkable order of excellence ;
and one of them, that of Mr. Johnson, the Chair-
man, and representative of the Founder, contained
so much information as to the inception and
purpose of the work then completed, that it merits
reproduction as a contribution to the life of Sir
Josiah Mason : —

Mr. Johnson said: "On the part of Sir Josiah Mason, he
had to make his apologies for not being able to be with them in
person, and to thank them for the enthusiasm with which
they had drunk the toast. Next he had to express Sir Josiah
Mason's devout thankfulness that he had been permitted to see
the conclusion of two such important undertakings as the estab-
lishment of his Orphanage and Science College. When they
reflected that he had already passed the period of three score years
and ten before the Orphanage was finished, and that the founda-

OPENING OF THE COLLEGE. 131

ation stone of the College was laid on his eightieth birthday,
they would join in the expression of congratulation that he had
lived to see the completion of two such institutions. It was
natural that their venerable friend, being childless himself, and
in search of some good use to which his wealth might be applied,
should first think of the fatherless and those ' that had none to
help them/ and should be filled with an intense desire to do
something to alleviate the misery of such. Out of that desire
sprang the present Orphanage at Erdington. But when that was
finished, Sir Josiah Mason being then in his 76th year, he found
that there were still, to use his own language, derived from
the old Worcestershire dialect, some oddments left, and he was
anxious to do something in another direction to benefit the town
in which he lived. That object was found in the establishment
of the College which was opened that day. If a man wanted to
write a story he could not do better than write a story of the
difficulties of a gentleman who wanted to give £400,000 away
wisely and well. He assured them that although it was very
easy for Sir Josiah to write one large cheque for his Orphanage
trustees, and another large cheque for the trustees of his College,
and tell them to apply the money just as they liked, it was a
different thing, having regard to all the difficulties of the case,
to expend the money so as to be free from the reproach which
Professor Huxley so justly cast on that indiscriminate charity
that neither blesses him that gives nor him that takes. Professor
Huxley, in his address, spoke rather disrespectfully of the phrase,
'applied science.' Perhaps Professor Huxley would regard
that phrase with more favour if he (the chairman) told him that
it was probably to that phrase that they owed the existence of
the Mason College. Sir Josiah Mason felt that it would be a
most appropriate thing for him, as an old manufacturer — a
manufacturer who started in life with none of the advantages of
education, either scientific or non-scientific, and who could
appreciate the difficulties of others — to devote the remnants of
his wealth to an establishment of the kind they were inaugu-
rating. They would, however, mistake Sir Josiah very much if
they thought he would act upon an impulse of that kind without
first thinking out every detail of the project. Accordingly,
having resolved to found an institution of that kind, he sought

132 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

the best assistance that was in his power. And here he must
acknowledge the valuable aid that Sir Josiah Mason derived
from a gentleman unfortunately not known to the great majority
of those present — he meant Mr. George Shaw. No man was
better qualified, from his large and accurate knowledge of every
department of science, to give Sir Josiah Mason the assistance
which at that precise period he required in laying down the
broad and clear lines of his Science College. He thought
Professor Huxley would agree that in no mere utilitarian spirit
had those lines been laid down, and it was due to Mr. Shaw
that this acknowledgment should be made. It took twelve
months to lay down a well-digested plan of the College. After
that Sir Josiah's difficulties began. There was, first, the
important question of the site. He was glad to hear Mr. R. W.
Dale refer with approbation to the site which had been selected :
and he was desired by Sir Josiah Mason to tender his acknow-
ledgment to another gentleman, Mr. P. H. Muntz, M.P., who
had afforded him the opportunity of acquiring the first part of
the site of the present College. Perhaps some of them might
regret that the building did not come up to the corner of the
street. It would not be prudent that he (the chairman) should
explain all the causes of that ; but there were certain things
about it which were not at first obvious. The site of the
College not only included the present building, but space for its
extension through into Great Charles Street, and room there for
lateral extension on both sides, and ultimately he believed it
would be found that the site of the College, if not so showy as
it might have been, had within it the elements of permanent
extension that would be more really useful than if it
had occupied that which at first sight all of them would wish
it should have occupied. Then they had other things to
contend with. The Mayor knew what difficulties there were
in carrying out a town improvement, even with all the powers
of compulsory purchase which the Corporation possessed. But
Sir Josiah was effecting a town improvement with no com-
pulsory powers. He had no powers but those of a tolerably
long purse and inexhaustible store of patience. Here again
he (the chairman) was quite sure that Sir Josiah Mason
would wish to acknowledge the services of one of his Orphanage

i

OPENING OF THE COLLEGE. 133

trustees in this matter, whom he was glad to see then
present — Mr. Isaac Horton. Mr. Horton had assisted them in
this matter with more zeal and industry than he had bestowed
upon his own private concerns, and in Birmingham they
knew what that meant. Indeed, Mr. Horton had realised for
them the story in the Gospel of the man who was sent on a
certain errand with the message ' The Master hath need of
him.' That was a sufficient warrant for Mr. Horton to go to
any owner of property and tell him he must sell it, because Sir
Josiah Mason must have it. And then, rather curious to say,
'straightway they let it go;' though he (the chairman) could not
say that the letting go was always of the gratuitous character
which pertained to the Gospel instance. But then, when the
plan of the College was laid down, and the site of the College
was secured, there came the very important question of laying
down the foundation of the trust. He was not going to discuss
any question concerning that, but he was very glad to hear from
Professor Huxley that what had been done met with that
gentleman's entire concurrence. Whether any provision in that
trust was wise or foolish, whether it was good or bad, he could
tell them that it was not there fortuitously or accidentally, but
it had been carefully considered not only by those who had
technical knowledge and skill in such matters, but by Sir
Josiah Mason himself, who had brought to bear upon it a clear-
ness of judgment, long experience, and vigour of intellect which
he (the chairman) had never seen exceeded in a man of business.
When all this was settled, they had next to consider the kind of
building. How fortunate they were in a choice of an architect
' he should leave Professor Eoscoe to decide ; but he thought it
would be ungracious if he did not say that during the five and
half years the College had been in the course of erection he had
had constant relations with Mr. Cossins, and the patience, the
good temper which that gentleman had displayed, and the
enormous trouble he had taken, were beyond all praise. Five
years passed from the year 1870 in surmounting the difficulties
to which he had referred, and on the 23rd of February, 1875
the foundation stone of the institution was laid. During the
five and half years that had since elapsed, Sir Josiah Mason had
been unremitting in his attention to the details of the institution.

134 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

Whatever might he its merits, whatever its defects, one thing
which ought to he said about it was, that ' Josiah Mason, his
mark/ was all over it. Five and a half years ago they com-
memorated, in the room over that in which they were now
assembled, the laying of the foundation stone, and to-day they
celebrated the completion of a task begun so late, and yet so
happily concluded. For himself there was but one shade of
regret which marred the perfect satisfaction of the day's pro-
ceedings, and that was that he missed from that table the
shrewd and kindly face of the late 'William Costen Aitken —
one of their colleagues who was with them at the laying of the
foundation stone. To Sir Josiah Mason — to his (the chairman's)
other colleagues the trustees, the completion of the College was
the completion of a project in which they had voluntarily
engaged, with a full sense of its importance and utility ; but to
Mr. Aitken it was more even than that — it was the realisation
of the dream of his life, the accomplishment, in a better form
than he had dared to hope for, of the object to which he had
devoted his best energies. His (the chairman's) feelings on that
might seem extravagant to those who did not know Mr. Aitken,
but when he remembered that their late lamented friend had
gone home from the laying of the foundation stone to die, it
seemed to him like the departure of Simeon before the offering
in the Temple. He would not longer occupy their time ; but if
he might express the feelings of Sir Josiah as he would wish
them expressed, it would be in the language of the only litera-
ture with which as a boy he was acquainted — the literature
which Professor Huxley so well said was the foundation of the
literary culture of the masses of England, and especially the
poor — ' I have done what I could ; I have taken the best
advice ; I have settled my trust on the best foundation I knew
how; more I cannot do. I have cast my bread upon the
waters, hoping it will be found after many days.'"

In the evening a conversazione, attended by
about one thousand persons, was given at the
College, which was profusely decorated for the
occasion with flowers and works of art. Exhibi-

THE FORMAL TRANSFER 135

tions of scientific interest were also arranged in
several of the rooms. Here, shortly after eight
o'clock, the ceremony of the formal transfer of the
College building to the Trustees took place. Sir
Josiah Mason was received at the door of the
College by the Trustees, and was conducted to the
reception room. Here he took his seat on the
dais, and after the lapse of a few minutes he rose,
and holding in his hand the key of the College, he
addressed Mr. Johnson, the chairman of the
Trustees, in the following words: — "This key of
my College is now mine, and I can say that the
College is mine ; but in a moment I shall be able
to say so no longer, for I now present it, and with
it the College, to my old friend Mr. Johnson, on
behalf of my Trustees, to be held by them in trust
for the benefit of generations to come."

On receiving the key, Mr. Johnson said : " Sir
Josiah Mason, I congratulate you, and I congratu-
late the town, on the munificent gift you have just
made. I heartily unite with you in the wish that
this gift may prove a benefit to generations yet to
come."

Thus, with simple dignity, and amidst a
respectful silence more eloquent than applause,
was completed a work which stands without
parallel in the annals of modern education in
England — the gift of a College, amply planned,
nobly built, liberally endowed; the generous

136 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

benefaction of one man, who looked for no reward
but the consciousness that, by his foundation, others
would have the means of acquiring knowledge
denied by the poverty of his earlier life to himself ;
trusting, to quote the words of his address at the
laying the foundation stone, that though unblessed
with children of his own, he might, in the students
of his College, leave behind him " an intelligent,
earnest, industrious, and truth-loving and truth-
seeking progeny for generations to come."

fc

CHAPTER VII.

Biographical Notes, Illness, and Death.

In connection with Sir Josiah Mason's benefac-
tions, certain public incidents of recognition should
here be placed on record. When the Orphanage
was completed and opened, in the year 1869, the
Town Council of Birmingham, with warm ex-
pressions of thanks, accepted the reversionary trust
embodied in the Foundation Deed, and, as a mark
of its estimation of the Founder's munificence,
resolved that a portrait statue of him should be
executed, and should be placed in the Corporation
Art Gallery. Competitive designs were accordingly
obtained from several sculptors, but none of them
were approved by Mr. Mason, and the one selected
by the Corporation Committee was finally rejected
by him. The project consequently fell through,
much to the satisfaction of Mr. Mason, who had
very reluctantly consented to receive the proffered
honour. Some gentlemen, however, who felt that
some public recognition ought to be made, raised a
private subscription for a testimonial portrait, for
which Mr. Mason consented to sit to the artist
selected by the subscribers — Mr. H. T. Munns, a
member of the Eoyal Birmingham Society of
Artists ; and this portrait, which was completed in

18

138 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

December, 1872, was formally presented to the
Town Council by Mr. Ealph Heaton, on behalf of
the subscribers, and was placed in the Corporation
Art Gallery. A smaller portrait, also painted by
Mr. Munns, was purchased by Sir Josiah Mason's
Executors, and presented to the College Trustees,
and is now placed in the Board Eoom. After
the death of Sir Josiah, a public meeting called
by the Mayor was held, to raise funds for the
erection of a statue, as a fitting monument to
his memory.

In the same year a well-deserved honour
was accorded to Mr. Mason by Her Majesty the
Queen. A statement of his benefaction in the
establishment of the Orphanage, and of his
further project of founding the Science College,
was laid before Mr. Gladstone, the then Prime
Minister, and was, by him, submitted to the
Queen. By Her Majesty's command, Mr. Glad-
stone was directed to offer to Mr. Mason the
honour of knighthood, which was accepted by
him, and the following announcement append
in the London Gazette : — " Whitehall, November
30th, 1872. The Queen has been pleased to
direct letters patent to be passed under the Great
Seal, granting the dignity of a Knight of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
unto Josiah Mason, of Norwood House, Erdington,
near Birmingham, in the county of Warwick,

PERSONAL INCIDENTS. 139

Esquire." By special permission of Her Majesty,
in consequence of Mr. Mason's age and the state
of his health, the ceremonies of personal knight-
hood and of presentation at Court were dispensed
with.

Besides those already mentioned in this
Memoir, the personal incidents of Sir Josiah
Mason's life, of a notable kind, were very few. In
the year 1841 he suffered from a long and
mysterious illness of the stomach, resulting in an
almost total loss of energy and nervous power. To
a man of his active habits this was peculiarly
distressing, and he sought relief in the advice of
the best medical men in Birmingham. They
failed, however, to effect a cure, and the patient
then went to Paris, in July, 1841, to consult
some of the leading French practitioners. Amongst
others, he consulted Dr. Louis and Dr. Gaudet.
The latter came to the conclusion that Mr. Mason
suffered from a gastric affection, complicated by
heart disease, and recommended him to take a
course of the medicinal waters at Vichy, to be
bled copiously, to use various external applica-
tions, to pass a winter in Italy, and, finally, " not
to leave Paris without taking the advice of a
celebrated doctor, that his opinion may be enough
to tranquilise Mr. Mason, and to be of use to
the physicians that he would be obliged to con-
sult in his future days." In accordance with this

140 LIFE OF J08IAH MASON.

counsel, Dr. Louis was called in, and a most
elaborate written opinion was obtained from him.
The sum of it is that he agreed with the diag-
nosis of his colleague so far as gastric disorder
was concerned, but doubted the supposed heart
disease. He objected to bleeding, but recom-
mended external applications, the drinking of
Vichy water, &c. ; prohibited vigorous exercise ;
and as to diet, he gave the following direc-
tion : " His diet is (to be) mild without
being debilitating ; he avoids all high-seasoned
dishes, exciting liquors, coffee, strong wines,
and particularly the sherry wine (Xeres)."
One more eminent man was consulted in
Paris — M. Franconneau Dufrene. He settled
upon the stomach and the heart as the causes of
illness, and recommended bleeding as a principal
remedy. Unluckily, however, the patient did not
get better under the multiplicity of doctors and
methods of treatment ; and so he resolved to take
the matter into his own hands by going to
Malvern, and trying the water cure under Dr.
Gully. In this, contrary to medical advice, he
persisted for some months, and with permanently
beneficial effect. On leaving Malvern, in the
summer of 1842, he wrote out, for Dr. Gully, a
description of his case, its treatment, and the
results, and from this document, highly character-
istic of the writer, an extract may be given : —

WATER CURE AT MALVERN. 141

" In leaving Malvern for a time, it gives
me much pleasure to be able to do so with my
health considerably altered for the better, and
with every hope of its being eventually totally
restored. After many years' exertion of my brain
in business, my health failed. I became subject
to attacks of a serious kind, in which my nervous
system was so completely destroyed and shattered
that I could not bear the slightest noise or light
without excruciating agony. At such times my
strength utterly left me. For several of these
seizures I was treated by the first medical
men in Birmingham, who tried all kinds of
medicine, but I could never take more than
two or three doses without symptoms which
alarmed my medical attendants. My complaints
were said to be caused by inflammation of the
mucous membrane of the stomach. Between
the attacks I never felt well ; my head was
all confusion, my spirits often miserably low,
and all attention to business was a pain to me. By
medical advice, I tried travelling, and went to Paris,
where I consulted M. Louis, the chief part of whose
prescriptions consisted in warm baths and the
drinking of the waters of Vichy, from both of
which I derived benefit ; more, indeed, than I had
hitherto got from anything. However, these did
not keep off the serious attacks I have spoken of,
and one of them coming on in December, I resolved

142 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

not again to try the remedies that had so com-
pletely failed before, but to sec what the water cure
would do for me, although my medical friends at
Birmingham prophesied my certain death if I did
so. I came under the care of Dr. Wilson and Dr.
Gully on the 26th of December, having all the
symptoms I have mentioned in their worst degree.
At the end of four weeks I was able to walk about,
with a feeling of health that I had not known for
several years ; there seemed to be little or no
interval of convalescence, as in former illnesses.
My appetite grew wonderfully ; my strength was
enough to allow me to walk ten or twelve miles a
day — generally four or five before breakfast. I con-
tinued this treatment until the middle of February,
when my medical attendants permitted me to return
home to Birmingham. I have received benefit from
the water cure when everything else had failed. I
now feel sure that all the physic I have taken did
me more harm than good, and if ever I am so ill
again nothing shall persuade me to take another
dose." This memorandum was written in 1842,
and from that period until his last illness Sir Josiah
Mason enjoyed excellent health.

We have seen that one Continental journey
was undertaken by Sir Josiah Mason in the vain
search after health. Another, a few years later, was
of a more pleasurable kind. In November, 1847,
accompanied by Mrs. Mason, he started for a trip

VISIT TO FRANCE AND ITALY. 143

of relaxation, rendered necessary by his long and
absorbing devotion to business. In his old age he
was fond of dwelling upon the route and the
incidents of this journey, which was then a more
formidable undertaking as to time, fatigue, and
cost than it is now. He went first to Ostend, and
then to Brussels. Here he bought a carriage, and
drove leisurely to Paris. Thence he proposed to
go on to Tours immediately, but a curious incident
delayed him. He reached the railway station just
in time to see the gates closed in his face, and to
hear the train start. It was vexatious, and the
traveller was much annoyed. It was fortunate for
him, however, that the delay occurred, for the train
by which he was to have travelled was almost
destroyed by an accident, and many of the
passengers were killed. Sir Josiah used to say
that since then he never felt annoyance at delays ;
but, filled with gratitude to Providence for this
escape, he concluded that hindrances when they
occurred were Providentially designed for his
protection. A few days later he went on to Tours,
and drove thence to Bordeaux, over very bad roads,
necessitating sometimes the use of several horses.
At one part of the journey, he was accustomed to
relate with much amusement, he travelled in
almost regal state, for the carriage could be got
along only by the help of eight horses, and a
couple of stout bullocks in addition ! From

144 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Bordeaux Sir Josiah went on to Toulon and
Marseilles, and thence by sea to Italy, where he
visited Bologna, Naples, Florence, Venice, and
Rome, being at the last-named city at the Carnival
in March, 1848, just at the time when the Revolu-
tion broke out. In Italy he made a large collection
of bronzes and other works of art, in gold, silver,
and other metal work, intending to use them in
the business of Elkington and Mason, but much of
the collection was lost by the death of an agent at
Naples, whose effects were seized by the Govern-
ment, and could never be recovered. At Naples
the journey came abruptly to an end. It was the
traveller's intention to go on to Egypt, and to
make the customary voyage up the Nile ; but
sudden calls of business compelled him to return to
England, and he never found leisure, or perhaps
inclination, to go abroad again.

As, in time to come, every note of a man
who conferred such benefits upon Birmingham
will be of interest, a few words may be added
as to his various residences. The first — in which
his married life began — was a very humble one :
a little cottage in a court in Baggot Street. From
thence, on taking to Mr. Harrison's business of
split-ring making, Mr. Mason removed to the
house in Lancaster Street, on the site of the now
existing pen factory ; at that time the place
consisted of a little range of shopping, the modest

HIS RESIDENCES. 145

dwelling-house (one room of which, as the pre-
sent writer well remembers, was afterwards used
as an office and counting-house), and a garden
in the rear, in which Sir Josiah Mason used to
recall with pleasure there was a summer arbour,
long since effaced by the buildings of the manu-
factory. Soon after the pen-making was begun,
Mr. Mason formed the idea of retiring so soon
as he had made £4,000 or £5,000, and this
proposal was warmly seconded by his wife, for
whom her husband's health and comfort had far
stronger attractions than the acquisition of wealth.
This project, destined never to be realised, was one
of those Arcadian dreams which come across the
minds of all busy, self-concentrated men, only
to be dismissed again. But Mrs. Mason did
her part towards executing it. She thought her
husband suffered in health for want of a residence
in the country ; he demurred to the notion, but
she, resolute in her purpose of benefiting him,
quietly went and took a house in Harborne Road,
at Edgbaston, then — nearly forty years ago —
really a country suburb of the town. Neither
husband nor wife found themselves at home in
their new residence, and then Mr. Mason had his
turn. He bought seventy acres of land at Griffin's
Hill, Northfield, on the Bristol Road, and built
Woodbrooke, a pleasant house, in which he lived
for some time. This he afterwards sold to his

19

146 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

future partner, Mr. George R. Elkington, who
lived in it for many years; after which it was oc-
cupied by his eldest son, Mr. Frederick Elkington.
From Woodbrooke, Mr. Mason removed to a
house in Siade Lane, Erdington ; and then, to
please Mrs. Mason, he built his final residence,
Norwood House, at Erdington, on the main road
from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield. It was
unpretentious in appearance, in accordance with the
character of the owner ; but, also in keeping with
his character, it was solid, ample, well-planned,
and thoroughly comfortable, well ventilated, and
well warmed — points to which he attached great
importance. Sir Josiah's own room was to the
front of the house — a quiet modest apartment,
well stocked with books, and containing a few
relics of his old friend, Mr. Harrison ; a few objects
of Art which connected him with the business of
Elkington and Mason ; specimens of his own
work as a split-ring and pen maker ; portraits of
himself and of old friends ; and a bust of Hahne-
mann on the mantelpiece, for Sir Josiah was not
the man to hide his belief in whatever system he
practised. As to its arrangement, the room was a
model of neatness ; the owner being able, from his
methodical habits, to lay his hand upon any
document at a moment's notice. The rest of the
house consisted of a comfortable dining-room, a
large drawing-room, and, leading out of it, a noble

• HIS LAST PUBLIC ACT. 147

picture gallery, containing a fine and probably
unique Viennese self-acting organ, set with
selections from all the great classical masters.
In accordance with Sir Josiah's last wishes, this
organ was removed to the College, and is now
placed in the Examination Hall. Along the
side of the house was constructed a handsome
terrace, leading down to the ornamental grounds
and the meadows beyond ; and at the back was
a range of greenhouses and vineries — for Sir Josiah
was a famous grape-grower — and a charming
garden, laid out in many-coloured parterres, em-
bedded in grass plots. From the house a good
view was obtained of the Orphanage buildings,
the lofty towers of which closed and adorned the
prospect. This association was appropriate, for
the place and the estate belong to the Orphanage
Trustees, forming part of their endowment. In-
deed, as Sir Josiah used pleasantly to say, he
had no place of his own, for while he remained in
business he was the tenant of his College Trustees
for his manufactory, and of his Orphanage Trustees
for his house.

The opening of the College was the last
public act of Sir Josiah Mason's life. For a few
months afterwards he occasionally visited the
College, and busied himself with superintending
the minor details yet requiring to be completed,
and he continued also to take a keen interest in

148 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

the Orphanage, which, being close to his residence,
he could frequently inspect. It became evident,
however, to those admitted to his intimacy, that
his course was nearly run. He was able, though
with some difficulty, to receive the trustees and
professors of the College at dinner on his birth-
day, the 23rd of February, 1881 ; but those who
then saw him, observed with pain that his
physical health was fast failing, and in particular
that his increasing deafness and his decaying sight
cut him off almost wholly from communication
with all but his immediate attendants. His mind,
however, still continued keen and unclouded, and
in this condition it remained up to the close of
his life. In the month of April the end was per-
ceptibly drawing near. Sir Josiah took cold, and
was confined to the house. One day, on
leaving his bath, he missed his footing while
walking, and fell. This accident brought on
a return of a complaint which had troubled
him in years past, and thus he was confined to
his bed. It seemed probable even then, notwith-
standing his great age, that his intense vitality
would once more assert itself, and that his life might
be prolonged ; but despite the sedulous attention of
Dr. Gibbs Blake and Dr. Huxley, his medical
advisers — who watched him literally night and
day for weeks — this hope was unfulfilled ; and
on the evening of the 16th of June, 1881, he sank

DEATH AND FUNERAL. 149

into his rest ; passing out of life without pain, in
a quiet sleep that knew no waking. The burial
took place at Erdington, on the 25 th of June.
The following account of the ceremonial is ex-
tracted from the Birmingham Daily Post:

In accordance with the express direction of the deceased,
he was interred in the vault in the Orphanage grounds, where
his wife was buried about seven years ago, and over which he
erected a handsome mausoleum to her memory. The proceedings
also, by his express directions, were of the simplest possible
character. The mourners consisted of a few relations and
intimate friends, including the trustees of the two noble
foundations with which the name of Sir Josiah Mason is
associated ; and the only spectators were the children of the
Orphanage, the inmates of the Mason Almshouses, and a
limited number of persons, most of whom where connected with
the staff of the Orphanage or the Science College, or with
mercantile undertakings in which Sir Josiah was interested.
The procession, which left Norwood House, the residence of
the deceased, consisted of Dr. Gibbs Blake and Dr. J. C.
Huxley, who attended Sir Josiah during his illness ; the coffin,
borne by eight servants and workpeople; and the following
mourners : Mr. G. J. Johnson, Mr. Martyn J. Smith, the Mayor
of Birmingham (Alderman K. Chamberlain), Alderman Avery,
Mr. R L. Chance, Messrs. J. T. Bunce, Dr. Heslop,
G. Hookham, F. Holliday, J. Player, and W. Rogers, trustees
respectively of the College and Orphanage; F. Elkmgton,
J. B. Braithwaite (London), J. F. Stewart (Dundee), C. A.
Harrison, E. D. Eobinson, S. Jevons, J. B. Mathews, and
W. Hodgkiss. The route taken was by the private grounds
attached to Sir Josiah's residence, terminating at the small gate
nearest the Orphanage, and thence along the high road. A
considerable crowd watched the procession pass, and in a
marked degree testified their respect for the memory of the
deceased. At the Orphanage the procession was joined by the
elder inmates, consisting of about 150 boys and 200 girls, many
of whom were much affected. Among the other spectators who

\

150 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

assembled at the entrance of the vault were Professors Tilden,
Bridge, Poynting, and Arber, of the Science College ; Mr. S.
Allport, the Curator and Librarian ; Mr. G. H. Morley,
Secretary ; Mr. "W. Bach, a former trustee of the Orphanage ;
the Rev. B. "Wright, Messrs. M. Pollack, S. F. Eollason,
"W. E. Riley, J. H. Barclay, "W. Clements, and a number of. the
students at the College and officials of the Orphanage. The
funeral service was conducted by the Rev. H. H. Rose, vicar of
Erdington, and consisted of an abridgment of the Church of
England burial office. Previously to the Benediction an
appropriate hymn was sung by the children with very touching
and impressive effect. At the conclusion of the service, a large
number of those present descended into the vault, and two
large wreaths of flowers were placed upon the coffin by
representatives of the children. The coffin was of polished oak,
with brass furniture, and bore a plate with the following
incription: — "Sir Josiah Mason, Knight- Born 23rd February,
1795 ; died 16th June, 1881." The following mourning card,
admirable in its selection of commemorative texts, was issued : —

In Affectionate Memory of

SIR JOSIAH MASON, Knight,

Founder of

The Orphanage and Almshouses at Erdington,

and
The Mason Science College, Birmingham,

Born at Kidderminster, February 23rd, 1795 ;
Died at Erdington, June 16th, 1881.

<c

I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless,
and him that had none to help him." —
Job xxix., 12.

" By the blessing of the Lord, I profited, and filled my
wine-press like a gatherer of grapes. Consider
that I laboured not for myself only, but for
all them that seek learning." — Ecclesiasticus
xxxiii., 16, 17.

CHAPTER VIII.

Personal Characteristics.

This Memoir would be incomplete without
some endeavour to estimate the character of the
subject of it ; and to put him, so far as that is
possible, clearly before the reader. The portrait
prefixed to the volume will give an idea of his
personal appearance. The broad and high forehead
indicates the possession of perceptive and reflective
faculties in an unusual degree ; the keen deep-set
eyes, well shaded by prominent eyebrows, sparkle
with intelligence ; the lines of the mouth, strong
and firm, display resolution and tenacity of
purpose, and yet not devoid of kindly humour.
The white hair, thick and very soft, and the long
and ample snowy beard, give a venerable aspect, in
keeping with the character of the man. But no
portrait can adequately convey the rfemarkable
mobility of the living face — strong, serious, and
humorous in repose ; but lit up with animation
when the feelings were called into play ; sometimes,
especially when children were in question, ex-
tremely tender and winning ; sometimes, again,
firm, eager, and stern, when matters of enterprise
or business were under consideration. Only a

152 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

series of portraits, each happily taken at the right
moment, could set forth these varying moods.
There were two such portraits formerly hanging on
the wall of Sir Josiah Mason's private room, at
Norwood House. One of them was very sweet,
paternal, and affectionate in expression ; the other
was fixed in a severe and resolute air. Looking at
them one day, the writer of these notes ventured
to say, " Sir Josiah, here are distinctly two men in
these likenesses. Look at this mouth ; and then
at this." " Ay," said Sir Josiah, pointing to the
severer portrait, "that is my business mouth."
The distinction thus made was a key to the
character of the man. Sir Josiah Mason had his
business side and his benevolent side, and these
were in practice kept separate. He was good at a
bargain, and liked it, both the negotiation and the
profit. He was not easily taken in ; nor did he
readily allow an advantage t& pass out of his hands.
Like all men who have risen from humble begin-
nings, and have made money by their skill and
industry, he was quite sensible of the value of it,
and had real pleasure in the creation and
accumulation of wealth. A sixpence had its
value in his eyes, and was well worth earning
or saving. In hands capable of using it, money is
power; and he knew it — though in his case the
power, that of doing works of great beneficence,
differed alike in character and enjoyment to that

STUDY OF HIS CHARACTER. 153

for which most men use their wealth. A true
business man, Sir Josiah was just both to himself
and to others : he expected those whom he em-
ployed, or with whom he dealt, to fulfil their
contracts fairly and completely ; as he was ready to
fulfil his with them. He would pay for a thing
only what it was worth; but then he was no
niggard in rating the value. With him the service
measured its reward : if a man was faithful,
laborious, and skilful, he was recompensed accord-
ingly ; if an invention promised to answer, the
inventor wa3 liberally and even generously treated
with. But no man could hope to make money by
him without rendering good service and full value
for it; nor could he ever himself be tempted to try
a short road to fortune by idle or dreamy speculation.
Yet, when occasion required, he could spend largely
and venture widely in order to make important
gains. This was not speculation; for he had in
him nothing of the speculator of the gambling or
hazardous type. It was not chance to which he
trusted, or luck, but solid calculation, aided by
the rare faculty of being able to see, as by in-
tuition, when an enterprise would succeed. This
was illustrated by his connection with the electro-
plating trade. He was advised not to engage
in the supposed hazardous experiment; but judg-
ing for himself, and seeing that the new art was
capable of wide and profitable application, he

20

154 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

accepted Mr. Elkington's proposals of partnership,
and immediately devoted his time, energy, thought,
and money without stint, to make the success
which he foresaw. An observer, who was then
well acquainted with Birmingham, writes, "People
saw the vast establishment in Newhall Street
rising and extending, and wondered whence came
the thousands that were sunk in it." They came,
as is now well known, out of Josiah Mason's pocket,
and the freedom with which he spent them, and the
patience with which he waited, were well rewarded
in the long run. It was the same with his other un-
dertakings — the copper- works and the pen-works.
His latest venture, commenced in old age, and
vigorously prosecuted up to the close of his life,
told the same tale. This was the refining of nickel
from a rich but extremely difficult ore, found in
New Caledonia. Sir Josiah was warned against it
by able scientific and practical men, but he trusted
to his own convictions in the matter, and though
at first he lost heavily, and for several years
seriously, yet he still persevered and triumphed
at last. No man, indeed, knew better how to spend
lavishly in order to get largely. One of his
favourite sayings was, "I like to embark in
an enterprise only when one or both of two
things are connected with it : a great difficulty
to be overcome, or a large amount of capital
to be laid out."

BUSINESS ENERGY. 155

The business faculty spoken of above showed
itself in many ways. Sir Josiah Mason was a rigid
economist of time. He wasted nothing. Through-
out his life, from morning till night, every hour
had its occupation : the hands were never folded ;
the brain was never at rest. If he did not spare
others he did not spare himself. Work was his
pleasure ; he sought relaxation only in a change
of labour. With him it was not "go," but
" come," for whenever work had to be done, he
was first in doing it. Even at eighty, when he
retired from lines,, hi, J^ and his
power of endurance would almost wear out younger
men. Up to that great age he was in his study
early in the morning, then at his works, then home
to other employments, which lasted him till night.
In earlier days, this energy — amazing as it was in
old age — was still more strongly marked. He was
one of the first men to set foot in his factory, and
one of the last to leave it. While there he saw,
knew, supervised, and arranged everything from
one end of the place to another. He could take in
hand, with equal ease, the smallest details and the
largest transactions. Propose to him an enterprise
involving thousands of pounds, or an invention
requiring a small fortune to perfect it by experi-
ment, and he would consider either, and dispose of
them, with marvellous quickness of insight, and a
rapidity of decision that might have seemed like

156 LIFE OF J 081 AH MASON.

guess-work, but that it was rarely or never wrong.
Yet, while thus quick and self-relying in judgment,
he never disdained advice, or neglected to seek infor-
mation which might aid his decision. He was wholly
free from the small vanity of believing himself
always right. His power of detachment, even while
considering important business, was remarkable.
While vast affairs occupied his mind, he could turn
aside from them to settle a minute point of detail
with a workman or a clerk, or to answer a chance
question from a casual visitor. If a process went
wrong, he could often set it right at once; if a
machine would not work, his thorough knowledge
of mechanics enabled him to overcome the hitch ;
if some new tool were wanted, he could make it ;
if a workman asked for employment, the master
was ready to test him personally, and even to give
him lessons in his trade. And it was all done with
ease as well as with certainty. There was never
any flurry. Though always one of the hardest
working of men, Sir Josiah Mason was always one
of the most deliberate. Goethe's motto, " unhast-
ing, unresting," formed the rule of his life. A
friend who was closely associated with him in
business for many years, writes: — "He was in the
habit of sitting thinking quietly and undisturbed
for half an hour, and often for an hour, before he
went to bed. He then resumed in his mind the
events of the day, and made his plans for the

ORGANISING POWER. 157

morrow. He considered that to this method of
reasoning upon all matters with which he was
connected he owed the greatest successes of his

life."

One great quality contributed largely to make
this character, and to attain these results — a
remarkable faculty of organisation. In his life, his
house, his manufactory, everything was orderly,
thoroughly well arranged, carefully subordinated to
the central idea of his plan ; nothing was left to
chance. With him, in business, every person em-
ployed had his due place and his clear duty, every
material arrangement was made to work in due
relation to the rest, one department led naturally
from another, neither time nor space was lost or
misapplied ; wherever machinery could supplement
or relieve hand labour, there the newest examples
of such machinery were to be found. It was not
only in relation to the work that this faculty was
exhibited. The workers themselves had the benefit
of it — their health and convenience being a
special consideration with him. Large, lofty, well-
ventilated, and well-lighted shops were provided,
so that no injury might be caused to the health of
the thousand people — men, women, and children —
who worked in his pen factory. Cleanliness was
enforced : each department had its special washing
places and other conveniences ; good order was
secured, not only by careful superintendence, but

158 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

by particular arrangements for such seemingly
trivial matters as the hanging up of the clothes of
the workers, and the provision of cooking places.
Thus, the whole place — vast as it was — worked
like a machine ; noiseless, easy, regular, without
friction : the care and forethought of the master
thus brought out the best working power of the
people employed, and made them feel that in a
sense they belonged to him. This feeling was
helped by his thorough acquaintance with them.
A powerful memory enabled him to know all his
people ; and a natural kindness of disposition aided
him in managing them as much through regard
as through mastery. It was the same in the
Orphanage as in the factory. All the plan of the
building was his own ; every part was thought out
as carefully, even to the least detail, as if it were a
home for children of his own, instead of for his
children by adoption. Nothing was more pleasant
than to walk with Sir Josiah through the Orphanage
or the factory. He knew everybody, and was
known to all. From young and old he received
friendly greetings ; and in return he had a ready
smile and a kindly and encouraging word for each.

Simplicity was a great characteristic of Sir
Josiah Mason. He thought clearly, quickly, and
powerfully, and spoke always with plain directness.
There was no beating about the bush with him : he
knew what he desired and went straight to it.

FREEDOM FROM VANITY. 159

From petty vanity he was entirely free ; nor was
there any trace of selfish ambition in his nature.
Naturally he had a keen self-appreciation ; he knew
thoroughly what he could do ; he was gratified at
the interest taken in his great works of charity, and
never hesitated to speak frankly about them. Nor
did he seek to hide the humble beginnings of his
life. He would talk with pleasure of early
privations and labours, and of the successive steps
by which he had risen ; but he talked of these not
as a man recounting his own deeds, or as caring for
them, but as an old man recalling for the benefit of
younger men the memories of scenes and times
long past. There was nothing of Mr. Bounderby
about him ; no ostentation of humility ; no self-
laudatory comparison of what he was with what
he became. Few men had a greater right to speak
of themselves ; but very few indeed left themselves
so much in the back-ground. It has fallen out
from circumstances that Sir Josiah Mason's name
has become known throughout the land ; but
if he could have had his way, it would not have
happened so. His great desire through life was
to avoid notoriety. His father's caution made a
strong impression on the boy's mind— " Josiah, let
nobody know what thee's got in thee pocket." He
used often to tell, with much amusement, a story
illustrating his observance of this lesson. When
fortune began to smile upon him, and money came

160 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

in pretty fast, he began to think that it ought to be
invested somewhere. So he went, wearing his
paper cap and apron, to Mr. Palmer, the solicitor
who, until death severed them, remained, his trusted
and confidential adviser. " What do you want ? "
Mr. Palmer asked. " Well," said Mason, twisting
his cap, " I've got a bit of money that I want to
put out somewhere." "How much?" "About
three thousand pounds; it's in the bank — but I
don't want anybody to know of it." " Very well,"
said the lawyer, "I'll tie it up for you tight enough;
and if you don't talk, those who borrow it won't
say a word." Mason did not talk — he always had
the power of holding his tongue, when he thought
that was desirable. As he grew in wealth he still
kept silence ; he lived so modestly that no one
knew how wealthy he was, though he had a vague
reputation of riches ; and his quietude enabled him
to mature his great schemes of spending, without
the annoyance of interested or unwise advisers. The
same desire for quietude led him always to shrink
from public employment of any kind. Even
in business he kept his name concealed so
much that for a long time few persons connected
him with the firm of Elkington and Mason; and
it was only in late years that he became
known by name in his trade of a pen-maker.
Always adverse to publicity, and shrinking, almost
with nervousness, from assuming the place to which

. PERSONAL MODESTY. 161

his vigour, capacity, and largeness of view entitled
him, he never sought or accepted any position of
public trust or honour. So reluctant was he to put
himself forward, that when his Orphanage was
finished, he insisted upon opening it without any
public ceremony, and was even unwilling to allow
a notice of the event to be published in the news-
papers. It was a work of much difficulty, from
the same cause, to induce him to lay the foundation
stone of his College ; and it required the united
persuasion of the Trustees to overcome his dislike
to the limited ceremonial finally determined upon.
Twice only did he yield in personal matters of this
kind to the solicitations* of his friends— once in
accepting the honour of knighthood offered him by
Mr. Gladstone on behalf of Her Majesty, as a
recognition of his public benefactions ; and again
in accepting for a few months the post of Chairman
of the Birmingham Banking Company, an under-
taking formed in 1866 to mitigate in some degree
the failure of a former company bearing the same
name. This was the only official position he ever
occupied : his great delight being in the hard work
and enterprise of his business undertakings, and
his relaxation consisting in a very simple and
natural home life, in watching the progress of his
Orphanage and Almshouses, and afterwards in
making the plan and erecting the buildings of his
College.

21

162 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

The home life of Sir Josiah Mason was in strict
accordance with the simplicity of his character.
Many persons of a tenth of his means kept a more
showy establishment; but he carel nothing for
show. His habits were extremely simple. He
was an early riser, and a plain liver — eating lttle,
and of the simplest food, abstaining almost entirely
from wine, and quite from spirits; nor did he
smoke — he tried once, he said, but it made him ill.
His hours were regular ; he took much exercise on
foot ; at over eighty he walked with a firm elastic
step, faster and more vigorously than many men at
fifty. Company had few charms for him, though
to the few persons who knew him well, no man
could be a more cheerful, or courteous, or kindly
h os t — and those few he was always glad to see.
The chief relaxations he permitted himself were
gardening — he had a great love of flowers ; music,
occasionally, in which he had a good taste ; and the
collection of works of Art, though of late years he
made no additions to his picture gallery.

From what has been said it may be judged
that Sir Josiah Mason lived a cheerful life. This,
indeed, was a marked feature of his character —
evenness of temper, serenit y of disposition, calmness
and kindly cheerfulness. He could bear the loss
of money with fortitud e ; and his strength of will
enabled him to endure with calmness other losses
more nearly touching his affections. His modera-

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 163

tion of temperament, however, did not exclude what
may be called loveable qualities, for he was quick in
affection, constant to the memory of old friends
and relatives long since dead, close and firm in his
regard for those who were left to him, and prompt
to give his confidence with fulness and sincerity
to those whom he had proved. Politics never
attracted him. In religion he described himself as
"unattached/' for he belonged to no particular
denomination — his dread and dislike of clerical
influence kept him separate. This is indicated by
the provisions of his Orphanage and College trust
deeds, which require the Trustees to be always
laymen and Protestants, though he laid no such
restrictions upon either teachers or students. The
dogmatic and ecclesiastical aspects of religion were
repugnant to him ; but for all this he was a sincere
believer in Christianity, especially in its practical
aspects. Faith was much with him ; but, following
St. Paul, he believed that faith without works is
dead. Of one thing he was firmly persuaded — of
the direct interposition of the Almighty in the
lives of men. He believed, and reverently declared,
his own life to have been frequently guided in this
way at critical periods. His meeting with his old
friend Mr. Harrison is one of the instances he was
accustomed to cite in proof of this belief; his
preservation from falling a victim to a railway
collision in France, by a seemingly accidental delay

164 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

of his journey, was another; and the impulse
which led him to think of establishing his Orphan-
age was a third. He not only believed in direct
interpositions of Providence in individual cases,
but he also believed it to be possible to receive
communications from another world. He often
mentioned, with much solemnity, and with absolute
conviction, an instance which he alleged to have
occurred to himself. It happened on the evening
of the 22nd of September, 1865, and the narrative
is now given, as nearly as possible, in his own
words :

" My partner, Mr. Elkington, was ill, at Pool
Park, where he lived, in Denbighshire. I was in
my study, at Norwood House, at Erdington [the
place in which the writer heard the narration]. I
had got up from the table to put away some papers,
when I heard a strain of music, very sweet and
solemn, and unlike anything I had ever heard
before. It began with a low note, then swelled out
louder, continuing for some time, and then dying
gradually away. It seemed to come from the
chimney-piece. I listened, awe-struck and silent.
In a few moments it was repeated, just the same as
before — first a low tone, then a fuller one, and then
dying away. I went, in a little while, into the
dining-room, where my wife was sitting, and I
said, ' My dear, Elkington is dead ; I am sure he
is.' The next morning, when I went down to

CONCLUSION. 165

Lancaster Street, I had not been there long when
Mr. Kyder [a gentleman employed by Elkington
and Mason] came in with an appearance of distress.
I said, ' Eyder, I know what you are come for, you
need not tell me — Elkington is dead; I knew it
last night.' "

But a few touches need be added to this
estimate of Sir Josiah Mason. He possessed natural
gifts, mental and physical, which, had his lot been
different, might well have led him to a high
and useful position in the State. Keen insight
into character, the faculty of managing men, ability
to foresee events, capacity to mark out lines of policy,
patience to wait for their accomplishment, quick
sympathy, firm and unconquerable will, unusual
organising skill, and remarkable power of endurance
— these are the qualities which mark the States-
man ; and Sir Josiah Mason possessed them in
such a high degree that, had he been so placed
as to call them out for the benefit of the
nation, he might have been foremost amongst the
ranks of those who have made England great.
But though humbler, his life was not less honour-
able or useful as a true captain and leader of
industry. In another aspect it was more than
honourable, it was noble in the self-sacrifice of his
later years, and in the application of the wealth
he had acquired. In the wisdom of their nature
and method his works speak best for themselves.

166 LIFE OF JOSIAH MASON.

Their aim is education in the broadest sense —
education with true tenderness for helpless children
in the foundation of his Orphanage ; education with
direct reference to scientific and industrial progress
in his Science College. The motto adopted for the
College — " Progress through Knowledge " — was the
practical maxim of his life. The value of such work
is incalculable. The method of it was not less lofty
than the purpose. It was no mere gift of money
for others to deal with ; no bequest of means which
the owner could no longer enjoy. The plans of his
institutions were laid out and the foundations
organised and set to work in the Founder's life-
time, with the benefit of his own counsel and
direction. The vast sums thus destined for public
use were withdrawn absolutely from his own
control. Provision was made alike for freedom and
for perpetuity of management by placing both the
Orphanage and the College under the guardianship
of the governing body of the community in which
the Founder lived. In the trust deeds there is no
limit to the powers of the trustees ; no superstitious
reverence for the " pious founder." In place of the
dead hand there is the living mind expressed
by a positive requirement of due revision at
fixed periods. Thus, Josiah Mason's foundations
will go down to posterity, monuments of wealth
nobly employed, examples of institutions devised
alike to meet the claims of to-day, and capable of

CONCLUSION. 167

being adapted to the changing necessities of the
future. May their usefulness and the memory of
this Founder alike be perpetual !

Here the writer closes this estimate of Sir
Josiah Mason, conscious of its defects, but feeling
that he has tried to do justice to a man of
whom posterity will be glad to know something,
however imperfectly it may be told ; desirous to
put on record the life of one whose work and
character, from intimate acquaintance, he was led
first to appreciate, and then to revere.

169

LIST OF PRESENT TRUSTEES

OF

SIR JOSIAH MASONS ORPHANAGE and ALMSHOUSES.

[arranged in alphabetical order.] .

Name,
t Blake, James Gibbs ...

* Cooper, James Alfred

* Downing, Joseph

* Edwards, Samuel

* Gilliver, William

* Hart, William Henry
t Holliday, Frank

t Jevons, Solomon

t Johnson, George James

* Lloyd, George Braithwaite
t Player, John ...

t Rogers, William

t Smith, Martyn Josiah

* Wilson, John Edward

Date of Appointment.

„. 29th July, 1868*

... 2nd August, 1881.

... 2nd August, 1881.

... 2nd August, 1881.

... 2nd August, 1881.

... 2nd August, 1881.

... 13th July, 1880.

... 1st January, 1878.

... 13th July, 1880.

. . 2nd August, 1881.

... 8th February, 1881.

... 1st January, 1878.

... 1st January, 1878.

... 2nd August, 1881.

t Ordinary Trustees appointed by the Founder.

* Official Trustees appointed by the Town Council of Birmingham.

February, 1882.

22

t<

I'

t

i

i

171

LIST OF PRESENT TRUSTEES

OF

SIR JOSIAH MASON'S SCIENCE COLLEGE.

[arranged in alphabetical order.]

Name.

* Date of Appointment.

* Avery, Thomas

• • •

... 2nd August, 1881.

t Blake, James Gibbs ...

• • •

... 12th December, 1870.

t Bunce, John Thackray

• • •

... 24th January, 1873.

* Chamberlain, Rt. Hon.

Joseph,

M.P. 2nd August, 1881.

* Chamberlain, Richard

• • •

... 2nd August, 1881.

* Dixon, George

• • •

... 2nd August, 1881.

t Heslop, Thomas Pretious ... ... 24th January, 1873.

t Hookham, George ... ... ... 1st May, 1880.

t Johnson, George James ... ... 12th December, 1870.

* Martineau, Robert Francis ... ... 2nd August, 1881.

t Smith, Martyn Josiah ... ...1st May, 1880.

t Ordinary Trustees appointed by the Founder.

* Official Trustees appointed by the Town Council of Birmingham.

February, 1882.